Life's Gift Of Love: Mikey's Love Story
by TMNTFANGIRL1116
Summary: As teenage leukemia victim Skylar Richards stared death in the face she could not have imagined that the illness would lead her to love and happiness. For many years her life has been dominated by her desperate struggle against the disease, but in an echo of meeting and saving an orange banded turtle, she had found reason to live again. Can love really overcome a deadly obstacle?
1. Chapter 1

Name: Skylar Anderson

Age: 18

Height: 5'7

Hair Color: None

Eye Color: Green

Skin Color: Pale white

Ethnicity: American

Personality: Loving, courageous, stubborn, sarcastic, artistic, and gentle hearted


	2. Chapter 2

Skylar's Pov...  
Late in the winter of my eighteenth year, I decided I was severely depressed. Probably because I have one of the most deadliest diseases coursing the blood and bones. Leukemia. I have had this disease for over ten years now and there has been no signs of improvement. I rarely left my small apartment I rented in the middle of Manhattan except to leave to go to work. I often would just sit with the many pets that I own that I saved from critical situations and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to be thinking about death.

Whenever you hear or read anything about leukemia, one of the most serve side effects is depression. But the fact is that depression wasn't a side effect, it was clear sign that I was dying. Well pretty much everything else is really. I have been living on my own for three years now since I left my mom. We really drifted apart after my dad had left me when he found out that I had been diagnosed with this disease. I think really she blames me for all of us not being together anymore. Even after I left thinking I would be finally able to get happy again having my own independence, it seemed to not change. Something just felt missing from my life. I went to my local hospital to see my regular doctor and she agreed that I was swimming in a pool of clinical depression and that I need to do something before it gets any worse.

The chemotherapy I had been getting was depressing as hell. I had to met there every Thursday in the same room, laying on the same uncomfortable bed, and getting poked and prodded by needles. I was honestly at the point of why do I even bother still come in every week to get this treatment when it doesn't seem to be doing anything to help cure this. I would always get the treatments in the same arm and I feel like I have lost the feeling it in every time a needle get pushed in.

I noticed that the nurses that would give me these treatments would tell me every time that I look like I have been improving, but really they are just masking the truth, trying to lift my spirits. When really they should just flat out tell me and not butter me up.

Luckily my life did have some good in it. I had a really good paying job at the tattoo parlor near my place. I earned my license to start my own practice by the time I had turned seventeen. To celebrate, I even got my very first tattoo at the place I work at and they hired me just a week later. I was working my way up to take over the shop when my boss Bryan would retire and I was getting rather close. I never knew why I liked tattoos so much. I guess they just show what you really are inside, a true imprint of what makes you, you. I started getting into designing my own art work when I turned thirteen and continued on doing this until I applied for school to get my tattoo license.

Even though that my job did give me some happiness and temporary relief from the depressing hell that I so call my life, it really just hurts me that I really have no one to be with or talk to. Sure I have my boss and co workers but they all have their own lives to attend to and family was out of the question. I was at home watching TruTv Top Funniest, trying to get a good laugh going after coming back from chemotherapy at the hospital, but the sound of my vibrating phone interrupted my attention. It was my mom.

Me: I refuse to take anymore of this chemotherapy

Mom: Do you want to get better or not? We have talked about this many times Skylar, you won't get better if you allow your stubbornness to get in the way

Me: What's even the point?! I am not getting better, I am stuck where I have been for nearly over a decade!

Mom: Skylar, you are a teenager nearly grown, you are not a little kid anymore. You need to try to find something to get your energy back up and go out and make friends, get out of the house, and live your life

Me: Speak for yourself, I barely had a life after dad left me and you and I separating, and you are not the one with a deadly disease coursing through your body!

I threw my phone on the couch refusing to answer anymore messages. I really hate that mom and I fight all the time. We were so close, she was my best friend in the whole world. But after dad left us, it seemed like that strong bonding chain just broke, like a pair of chain cutters came along and separated us both. I wanted my family back, this wasn't meant to happen. I was suppose to be getting all the love and support I need in order to cope and navigate through the difficulties of battling a life threatening disease. I wanted to be happy again. There is only one thing in this world that is shittier than someone like me getting cancer so young, is that I am allowing it to consume every bit of chance of happiness.

About now I had enough and I had to get out of the house for a little while before I would scream. I got up from the couch passing my sleeping cat on her little bed curled up. She immediately woke up and followed me into my bedroom, jumping on my circular bed. "Hey Kisa you pretty kitty", I said, smiling a little petting her head

My fluffy calico cat with yellow eyes purred rubbing her head against my hand. She always could help me bring a little smile to my face. I changed out of my sweats and slipped on a long sleeve pink shirt, putting a short camouflage shirt over it, and slipping into dark blue skinnies.

I slipped on my pair of pink vans and I grabbed my short red bandanna tying it around my bald head. The day that when my hair started to fall out it was the saddest day of my life. I would just be taking fists full of my pale blonde hair and let it fall into the trash can. I opted to shave the rest of it off because so much was falling out at one time and it was covering everything. But for some reason I didn't cry when I saw my newly shaved head. To most people baldness is the sign of sickness, and even though I was told I had a beautiful head, I never saw myself that way. It looked like a permeant defeat.

I had grabbed my green tote bag that was carrying my oxygen tank inside and I slipped on the breathing tubes up my nose and hang over my ears. I hated wearing these things. It made so vulnerable to the world, but I had to wear it to help with my breathing when it came to the smog that floated up in the air in this place I called home. I adjusted the pressure making high concentrated levels of oxygen fill up my nose. "Love you Kisa, see you later", I said, giving her ear a few scratches gently

I grabbed my phone before putting it my pocket and locking my door on the way out. I walked down three flights of stairs before making my way out of the door and out on to the sidewalk. It was turning out to be a casual night, everything seemed to be pretty normal. Or so I thought. When I was walking along a quiet street I was feeling finally relaxed after dealing with the stresses of home, work and therapy. I considered my walks through the neighborhood to be a great therapy for me in order to relieve stress and break free, if only they could help me with leukemia. I heard my phone vibrate again and I checked to see it was mom again. I sighed annoyed as I continued walking reading her long text of why we are not so close anymore and why did I choose to do the things I wanted to do in life. I really didn't want to deal with it as I have already enough of her bickering from earlier. I clicked on the text and I clicked delete as the message went into the trash can. "Why do you think mom? Jesus christ", I said, to myself

Right when I was about to walk again, my heart nearly stopped beating when a metal object was thrown in front of my face stabbing into the concrete, just barely an inch from hitting me. I could of literally seen my life flash before my eyes as I almost slipped backwards towards a staircase. "Holy chalupa", I said, panting hard

I walked up to the object and I yanked it out of the wall and it was a flying ninja star. I recognized it from doing designs for some of my clients. It was really beautiful, even more than just seeing picture and designs. It was a gleaming silver with six sharp points and in the center was a design I have never seen before. There was a turtle in the middle of outlined in black.

"Wow", I said, looking at the object with amazement

I then heard screams as I barely had time to turn and duck down as another star came flying towards me barely snagging on my bandanna. "What in the world?!", I said

I saw from across the street that there was an intense fight was being taken place. Not like a local street bar fight that would be easily defused by the police, I am talking about like mixed martial arts fighting. There were many men fighting some huge shadow and I tell you what he was kicking ass. One the men went charging towards him and he back flipped kicking him in the jaw, causing him to fall on his knees. Another man went up on his right, wielding a sword in his hand and he tried to strike at the huge shadow. But he was quick to jump back at each strike and he grabbed one of his arms and head butt him right in the face. "Ow, gonna feel that in the morning", I said, to myself

I decided to get a closer look on the action and I snuck close enough at the edge of the alley and knelt down to keep a low profile, not wanting to become apart of it. Another man then used a long stick and grabbed a hold of him by choking him from behind. I gasped and I immediately grabbed the first thing I saw in front of me, an empty beer bottle and threw it across the air. "Duck!", I called out

Luckily he heard me and duck his head down just in time as the bottle smashed into bits into the man's face. He then swooped his legs out from under him and he fell on his back. Another man then charged at him from the side and pinned him against the brick wall and he kneed him int he gut and ridge hand him on the side of the head, then side kicked him into a dumpster. I then saw one other man get up and pull out a long stick and I could see electricity between the two metal prods. He then struck him in the back, making the huge shadow scream in pain. "Oh god!", I said, to myself

Two more came charging in with the same prods shocking him repeatedly. He struggled to reach out and crawl away from the torture devices, but one stomped on his back a few times with such brute force and even then stomping down on his head into the concrete, where I could slightly hear bones cracking. He groaned in pain before it started to silent, going unconscious from the electricity shocking him. Several men grabbed his huge muscular arms and began to drag him away as he limply laid against the ground.

I knew this was beyond dangerous, but I wanted to help in some way without getting myself killed or the victim in the process. I then looked down at my tote bag and I unzipped it open seeing my oxygen tank inside and across from me was a metal pipe laying on the ground behind a pile of junk. I quickly reacted and pulled my tank out of my bag unhooking myself from it as I laid it on the ground and I grabbed the pipe and getting in front of the tank.

"Hey dingbats!", I called out

The figures stopped what they were doing and looked towards me, I then spun the pipe in my hand. "Surfs up!", I said

I then whacked the metal pole down on the regulator on my tank smashing it open and the air entering the tank caused so much pressure that it started smoking up and it went flying like a rocket towards them. The tank crashed into one figure and it ricocheted off the brick walls knocking each figure to the ground, like a balloon letting all its air out releasing a cloud of smoke. The air tank smashed one more in the head before it landed on top of his chest, knocking the wind out of him. "Woo!", I said, doing a victory jump

I picked up my bag and slinging it over my shoulder as I started making my way over towards the person those figures beating up. He was struggling to his feet and I started to jog over, but I stopped suddenly when I saw the huge size of this person crawl on his hands and knees, trying to get to his feet.

I was not quite sure I would recognize someone that muscular. His muscles were huge in size, bigger than what I would see on a body builder. His long and slender shadow had covered me completely from the light of the lamp post above. Something was dangling around his neck in two strands, like long hair or dreadlocks or something. He didn't appear to have any hair on top of his head, kind of like me. He looked about my age, maybe a little older. His posture was poor as he stood up from the ground picking up a nunchuck. "Are you okay?", I asked, walking up

He suddenly whipped looking me at in my direction, the prettiest blue eyes were looking at me. Even though I couldn't see his face so well I was already intrigued by the beauty of them. When I came closer making sure I didn't injure when I let my tank go flying, he took off running. A mixture of confusion and concern struck me as I started to run after him down the alley. "Wait! Wait! Come back! I won't hurt you!", I called out

I then saw him jump against one of the buildings and jump across towards the other beside it, doing a zig zag. I skid to a halt as I reached the end of the alley and I looked up to the rooftop, to see he looked back down at me before taking off disappearing into the night. I then heard a flapping noise coming from behind me and I saw this artwork that looked to be in Japanese in orange and purple spray paint and there was a yellow sticky note right in front of the now dried graffiti. I gently took it off the brick wall and saw there was a message on it.

"Thanks, I owe you one-Mikey"

"Mikey?", I said, to myself

I flipped over the note to see nothing more than just the message and I looked back up to the night sky where I guess now known as Mikey had disappeared to. How could a normal human have such ability to jump that high and disappear that quickly, let alone fight like a professional? I then looked back down at the note and held it with both of my hand and I saw at the bottom of the note there was smiley face winking. "Well then, I guess you owe me one...Mikey", I said


	3. Chapter 3

Sky's Pov...  
Well another day, another dollar. Waking up in my comfy bed with my cat curled up beside me and the rays of the sun shining through my silky yellow curtains, starting my morning before I headed off to work for my late morning shift. I pushed off my puffy comforter and rolled up in bed rubbing my eyes open. Kisa was rubbing against my side purring like a motor boat as I gave the back of her head a scratch. "Love you Kisa, such a good kitty", I said

She then looked up and stood up on her hind legs giving my cheek a nuzzle and I giggled nuzzling her back giving her head a kiss, only to have some of her fur cling to my face. I blew a few raspberries as some of the hair got into my mouth. "Remind me to take you to the groomers this week, you are shedding like crazy", I said, getting up

I walked out of my room and headed off into the kitchen and prepared some hazelnut coffee. I then heard squawking coming from behind me and I turned around to see my scarlet macaw hanging from her cage door in the corner of my apartment, cocking her head side to side. "Oh how can I forget my baby bird?", I said, opening the cage door

I held up my arm as she climbed on top of it and I gave her beak a kiss as she flapped her wings repeatedly. "Morning Skittles, you hungry this morning? Want a snack?", I asked

"Yummy yummy", she said

I giggled and I rested her on top of my shoulder. "Okay let's get you some fruit", I said

I opened the fridge and there was many shelves stacked with fruit, vegetables, almond milk, sealed up garden salads and my two giant tubs of peanut butter and jelly. Now you are probably wondering why I didn't have meats, cheese, yogurt or anything else of that kind in my fridge? Well it's because I am a vegan. I have been one really for most of my life, I just never ate meat or dairy when I was growing up. After hearing and seeing some disturbing and shocking truths about what really goes on in those industries when I was nine by watching a protest parade on the streets, I decided to become one.

Growing up when I saw those images and undercover tapes of what happens to animals, I was shocked and disgusted. I don't see why anyone could hurt such an innocent creature to pleasure our needy greedy lives. I wanted to prevent myself for being one of the millions of causes to exploit animals and I believe that many silent and sentient creatures have a right to life and freedom, just like the rest of us. And besides to me it is a healthier lifestyle to live and I really have grown into it.

I took out a bin of cut up peaches and I took out a jar of walnuts from the cupboard and I poured each of them into a small bowl as Skittles then flew down and used her foot to eat a peach. "Good girl, eat up", I said, stroking her back feathers

After giving the rest of my animals their food, I left my pets to eat their breakfast as I went back into my bedroom to get ready for work. I took a hot shower and then got dressed into a dark navy blue plaid shirt with silver stripes, rolling up the sleeves to my elbows, slipped on some dark black skinny jeans, and my grey and white high tops. I tied on a simple long navy blue bandanna around my head. I pushed the tails behind my shoulder as I grabbed my phone, my wallet, and my house keys.

Thank goodness it wasn't smoggy out today and it was nice and hot, so I didn't need my oxygen tank today. I made sure all my pets needs were taken care of before I walked out the door locking up. I walked down the stairs till I got down to the sidewalk and made my way to work. I arrived at work at a good fifteen minutes early as I walked in thorough the glass door making the little bell ring above the frame. There to greet me was one of my co workers straightening out the desk, with long black hair in a low ponytail and dragon tattoos on his arms in a tough guy outfit. "Hey Sky, what's chilling?", he asked

"Hey Clint, oh pretty much the same thing, different day", I said, shrugging

"Fair enough, feeling any better?", he asked

"Actually quite good today", I said, clocking into my shift on the computer "Best I have been feeling for months"

"Well that's good", he said "Meghan got back in last tonight"

"Oh really? Awesome! I can't wait to see the designs she was going to bring back from LA", I said

"She got so lucky to go on the set of LA Ink, I can't wait to know what knowledge that they gave her", he said "Maybe it could boost up business"

"I sure hope so, we have been kind of slow these past two weeks", I said, unlocking my door to my station "By the way what time do I have that appointment with Christy? It was for restoration on her back"

"She called this morning she had to rescheduled because of a meeting, you got her at four today", he said, as I walked inside turning on the light

"Cool beans", I said, setting up my tray with my inks and tools

Well at least we did get some business today after Meghan had shown us what she learned while in California. I had at least four appointments of doing tattooing and restoration and made some pretty good tips. I was cleaning up my station by making sure all my inks were in colored order and sanitizing my tools. I decided to stay and help clean up the shop since one of our cleaning staff members didn't bother to show up at his shift. I dusted the counters and artwork, wiped the glass and mopped the concrete floors.

As I finished mopping up the area, my boss Bryan came in from his office. He had short brown hair and flame tattoos on his muscular arms. "Oh Sky you didn't have to do that, I am going to give that guy a good talking to, this is the second time this month he has done that", he said

"Nah don't worry Bryan I don't mind", I said, mopping around the front desk "It's gotta get done one way or the other"

"How's the therapy?", he asked, sitting down and starting some paperwork

"To be quite honest, I am pretty much sick of it", I said "I mean I haven't made any progress for years, and it's more annoying that nothing has changed since I got this"

"I'm sorry to hear that, be a shame if this doesn't go away", he said "Don't want to lose my next manager"

"Thanks for your concern", I said, smiling a little "But I'm hoping a miracle will happen soon, I'm sick of dealing with this shit"

"I wouldn't say I blame you, I would be fed up and throwing in the towel right about now", he said "Anything going on for you tonight?"

"Pretty much the same thing, going to go home and take care of my so called zoo", I said, giggling

"Oh yeah Mrs. Dr. Dolittle", he said, snickering

"Haha you guys are so funny calling me that", I said, rolling my eyes

"Well you kind of own every animal there is", he said

"Oh contrary, not every kind...yet", I said, laughing

He laughed along with me as I dumped the mop water outside on the street and store the bucket and mop in the storage closet. "Though something did strange did happen last night", I said

"Like what?", he asked

"Okay I helped this guy out from getting beaten up I guess by thugs or something and when I tried to see if he was okay, he took off running", I said

He looked at me quite surprised. "Really? He just like vanished?", he asked

"Yeah! I mean he jumped the wall and climbed up on a rooftop and disappeared", I said "He was so fast, like lightning speed!"

"That's really strange", he said, nodding in agreement

"I know right, but he did leave me a message saying that he owed me one", I said "Someone called Mikey"

"You know anyone named that?", he asked

"Not that I know of", I said, shaking my head "But oh well, probably not going to see this guy again anyways"

"Yeah probably not", he said

I shut off the lights in my station and locked it up and I clocked out of my shift. "By the way I got those invoices and bids sent out today", I said, tightening up my bandanna

"Oh thanks Sky! You work way too hard, it's like you are trying to run me out of here as quick as possible", he said

"Not my intention", I said, giggling walking to the door "Good night"

"Good night, see you at noon", he said

"See ya", I said, as I walked out of the shop

I walked down the street and decided not to go home straight away. I wanted a little breather from work before I tended to my home life. Going past my apartment complex I headed towards the docks at the end of the block. I walked along the rickety boardwalk and leaned against the edge watching the sea quietly ripple under the light of the moon and seeing a few sailboats out in the distance. "Ahhh fresh air", I said

I always loved the boardwalk. It was just where I loved to be to get some peace and quiet and enjoy the crisp ocean air, that really enhances my breathing. Best of all I usually had it all to myself to enjoy. Or so I thought. I heard footsteps coming up behind me, that sounded loud and making the old boards cripple under my feet. "Hey!", a voice yelled

I shot around seeing a man holding a knife in his hand and just from standing a far distance, I could smell alcohol and cigarette smoke. "Get off my spot!", he said

"Excuse me, this is a public place, so I can stand here if I want to or not", I said, crossing my arms

"Shut up! You little whore!", he said, walking closer

I gripped behind my pants pocket and grabbed a little object hiding it in my fist. I backed up against the edge of the boardwalk, not knowing what he could be planning. "Strip off your clothes!", he said

"I don't think so", I said, being brave "You bastard!"

"Strip or I cut off your fingers!", he said, as he pressed the knife up under my chin

"No!", I said, getting in his face

"Do it...or I will!", he said, in a warning tone

"I said no!", I said, as I revealed my weapon

I sprayed a tiny bottle of mace that was very effective in his eyes as it created a cloud of smoke. He yelled in pain as I tried to push him away to run. But the spray only helped me so much before he pushed me back hard. "You little cunt!", he said, as he shoved me again

This time he pushed way too hard and I slipped on the wet boards and went stumbling backwards falling into the ocean. I screamed as I started falling faster and faster till I hit the icy cold water. It was a sudden shock for me as I never felt so cold in my life. I swam back up to the surface catching my breath and I tried to swim to a dock post to hang on to since I was near the roughest part of the waves. I was close till a huge wave crashed on top of me pushing me under and making me do multiple somersaults.

I tried to swim up to the surface again, but I wasn't moving anywhere. I looked down to see my leg was tangled up in some kelp and I reached down trying to get myself free, but it wasn't getting any looser. It felt like I was attached to a chain on a ball. I could feel my lungs tightening by the seconds desperate for air and I started to panic struggling faster to get free. Suddenly a huge wave came rushing towards me as I tried to swim away, but it smashed me against a wooden post on the dock and I hit my head hard. My vision started to go blurry and my whole body began to relax as I sunk down into the ocean. I never felt so calm, it was peaceful like I had just fallen asleep.

My head looked up and from what I could see was rushing waves continuing to hit the dock. But I then saw something jump in making a huge splash and for some reason it started to swim towards me. I tried to keep my eyes open but everything went dark. "Come on", a voice said, sounding muffled "Come on, come on!"

I felt a strange thump on my chest that was repeatedly hitting me. I suddenly shot up coughing hard as salty sea water came drooling out of my mouth. I coughed hard a few more times before I finally caught my breath and laid back down. My eyes slowly opened and I could see I was on the beach and sand was sticking to my wet clothes. I slowly looked up and I was stunned to see the exact same shadow I saw last night, with the exact same bright blue eyes looking down at me. "No need to thank me!", he said, clearly not noticing my shocked expression "I take cash and checks as repayments"

My eyes then rolled into the back of my head and my head fell unconscious from everything happening so fast. I didn't remember anything after that.

When I felt myself coming around I didn't feel the cold sea water surrounding me, instead I felt warm and cozy. I fluttered my eyes open to see I was back in my own apartment and I was laying in my bed, hooked up to my oxygen tank. "Wow that was some dream", I said, to myself "It felt so real"

"That's because it was real", a voice said

I quickly sat up and looked around in my dark room and I turned on my lamp on my nightstand, backing up against the headboard. "Who...who is there?", I asked, sounding nervous

"It's okay, I'm the one who helped you out, I just stayed to make sure that you were okay", he said

"Why are you hiding from me? I can't see you", I said, relaxing a little

"You probably don't want to", he said "You would be afraid"

"Why would I be scared of my own rescuer?", I asked "You saved my life, there is no reason why I should be afraid"

I could hear slight movement and I can see the same huge shadow. "Please don't go, I really want to see you", I said, sitting up in bed

"You will freak out", he said, sounding a bit sad

"I won't freak out, I promise you", I said, softly

He stood there silent for a few moments as I waited patiently for him to say something. He then took a step forward and I could see a huge sneaker wrapped in white bandages and going up his leg and I could see material of orange and black gym shorts and part of a grey hoodie around his waist. I got a look of curiosity and when the light had barely hit his face, the same bright blue eyes appeared. "It's you", I said, softly

He then fully stepped out and I was right, he wasn't human. He was a giant turtle, like a head and almost shoulder taller than me. An orange mask was wrapped around his head and had a golden chain hanging from his neck along with shades with golden orange tint and a long skateboard was behind his back. He looked at me frightened. "You are that guy", I said, standing up "You are the one from last night"

"Yeah, and you were the one who helped me out", he said, smiling a little "Told you I owed you one"

"Mikey?", I said, remembering the name from the note

"That's me!", he said, smiling more

Without warning I suddenly hugged him tight around his neck and I then could feel the happiness spike up in him as he hugged me back tightly too. "Thank you so much! I would of been a goner if it wasn't for you", I said, smiling

"Aw no worries little dudette!", he said, swinging me side to side as I giggled "Just doing what I normally do"

"Man I thought I was dreaming for a second there", I said, letting go "Thought I was going on crazy"

"Oh this is real, believe me", he said

This guy had such a laid back and casual attitude towards me, and I hardly even knew anything about this guy. I knew he wouldn't have harmed me in any way, not with an attitude he has. Otherwise I would have been dead before I had blacked out when nearly drowning out in the ocean. Besides I did help him out so there was no reason why he would hurt me. "But don't worry, I am not afraid of you", I said, smiling

"You are not?", he asked, surprised

"Not at all", I said, shaking my head

"Well that's a surprise you are the first human I have met who doesn't get all freaked out or faint at the sight of me", he said

"A lot of people these days can be very judgmental about a lot of things", I said, crossing my arms and nodding in agreement "They just don't give it a chance"

"Right instead of like running away, they could just stop and just try to understand it on what it really is", he said "I might just end up being the coolest thing ever"

"But why did you run away when I tried to approach you?", I asked "I didn't mean to scare you like that, I'm sorry, it was just the only thing I could think of to help you"

"No I wasn't scared of you, I just worried that you might be scared of me", he said "The reason why I ran, I panicked because I didn't want you to see me how I looked"

I looked at him concerned. "What why?", I asked, gently

"I didn't want you to freak out by my appearance, I thought you would called me a monster", he said, lowering his head "Pretty much everyone does"

"Now why would I call you a monster?", I asked

"I don't know because I am a giant talking turtle", he said

I gave him a smile. "You ninny", I said, giving his shoulder a playful shove "If I was scared of you, I wouldn't have bothered to help you out back there, I kind of got the idea that you weren't human anyways"

"Really?", he asked, surprised

"I'm pretty observant of my surroundings", I said, giggling and crossing my arms "And besides I don't think any human could of been that big in size or fast to get on a rooftop unless they had some kind of special climbing equipment"

"Well not entirely true, Spiderman could of done it", he said, smiling

"Oh yeah! That's true!", I said

"Love the part when he tries out his spiderwebs for the first time saying all those goofy pick up lines", he said

"Oh my god! Me too!", I said "And right when he smashed into that billboard, too classic"

"Like a bug on a windshield", he said

"Hey that's a pretty good comparison, I never thought of that", I said

Just then the sounds of scratching and squeaky meows could be heard from outside of my bedroom door. A big grin exploded on Mikey's face. "Awwww you have a kitty?", he said

"I do", I said "Wanna meet her?"

"Yes! Yes! Yes!", he said, excitedly

Wow this guy really must love animals, well considering that he is one. I rolled out of bed and I opened the door and came running in quickly was my cat, meowing. "Hey baby girl, you miss mama?", I said, picking her up "Come here"

She hugged me around my neck as I petted her along her back. "This is Kisa", I said, setting her down beside him with Mikey sitting on my bed

"Awwwww she is so cute!", he said, petting her along her back as she purred loudly "So fuzzy and adorable!"

I smiled. "Yeah she is my baby", I said "She is very affectionate, even when I found her in an alley on my block under a dumpster, poor little girl must of been on her own for quite awhile, thought she wouldn't make it"

"You found her under a dumpster?", Mikey asked, shocked

"Yeah I was walking home from work and heard a little squeak and I went to see what it was, and sure enough this little dirty fuzzy kitten came walking up to me", I said "Picked her up and took her right into my home and she has been with me since"

"Awwwwww do you know how she got out there?", he asked, petting her head

"Maybe getting separated from her mother, or possibly thrown out by an irresponsible owner", I said, shrugging "I am not so sure, but all I can say is that there was no way and how I was going to leave her there"

Kisa had climbed up on top of Mikey's arm and walked along his shoulder till she laid down behind his neck curling up and purred rubbing up against his face. He chuckled smiling as he scratched her head. "Kisa really likes you Mikey", I said "Never seen her that affectionate before"

"Well I can be quite the alley cat myself", he said "Maybe that's why she likes me"

I giggled. "Maybe", I said "Um did you maybe wanna stick around for a bit? I mean you don't have to if you don't want to, just really enjoying the company, I don't often get visitors"

"Let's go for it!", he said, suddenly

I flinched back startled a bit by his answer. "You said the magic words!", he said

"You really want to stay?", I asked, a bit confused and yet surprised

"Why wouldn't I?", he said

"Oh...well then okay", I said, smiling "Great! I could show you my other pets that I have too"

"Wait Kisa is not the only one you have?", he asked

"Oh no no no", I said, shaking my head "Come on I'll show you"

I got up with Mikey quickly following behind me and Kisa running out in front of the both of us. There to greet us was my other pets in there tanks or cages Mikey looked like a little kid in a candy shop as he looked around seeing my pets that were going about their own things. "Wow! You are like in the office of Dr. Dolittle!", he said

I giggled. "Yeah you could say something like that", I said "A lot of people do tease me for that, but hey I love animals, can't help it"

"This is awesome! Show me everyone!", he said, happily

"Gladly", I said, walking up to one of my tanks "First we have my fish, I have my cinnamon clown Sugar, my angel fish Shimmer, my blue tang Dory, my starfish Peach, and my snail named Slime", I said

In the tank was beautiful colored corals and purple and blue pebbled rocks at the bottom, with a little light shining down into the clean water. Something like you would really see in the ocean. "So cool! I wish I had fish growing up that would of been awesome!", he said, getting on his knees and watching them move around

"Glad you like them, come on I'll show you more of my critters", I said, patting his shoulder

He got up and followed me to a good size metal cage and from the little hammock hanging I could see little whiskers pop up. "And this is Iggy and Lola", I said

"What are they?", he asked, peering inside the cage trying to see

"Here", I said, opening up the cage door and held out my hand

A white rat with black patches and a plain white rat appeared and they started crawling up on my hand. "They are my rats", I said, pulling my hand out

"Wow! I didn't know that you can own rats as pets, I thought you would really just find them in the sewers", he said, looking at them

"Surprisingly they can be good pets, they have become more popular now", I said, as they started climbing up and down my arms

"Not like the ones I would see lurking around in the tunnels for scraps", he said, as he looked at Iggy in the face

"You see rats all the time?", I asked

"Yeah I kind of live in the sewer", he said, sounding a bit uneasy

"Not really a surprise", I said, shrugging, not really bothered by his answer

"You don't think its bad?", he asked

"I don't think so", I said, shaking my head "I mean you don't often see giant turtles living in penthouses"

"Oh that would be the day", Mikey said, looking up at the ceiling dreamily

"Tell me about it", I said, nodding in agreement

Iggy and Lola came walking up my arms as Lola stood up on her hind legs and sniffed the air reaching out her little paws. "I think she wants to see you Mikey", I said

He held out his finger as she rested her paws on the green digit. He looked at her with a smile and she then scattered up on his arm as Mikey looked at her with surprise as she then rested on his shoulder and began sniffing him. "This feels so weird, usually rats would scatter at the sight but to have one actually come up to you", he said, as he watched her move all over him sniffing around "It feels funny"

"I know at first glance you might think that why would you own a rodent that eats everything in sight and is nothing but a pest in society", I said "But really I found them fascinating, I mean they are so adapted to living in such harsh conditions and can still keep living a normal life"

Lola scattered on top of Mikey's head as she rested her paws on top of his face and her whiskers twitched. Mikey's face was scrunching up as he started laughing as she continued on. "Hey cut that out!", he said

"That's her way of telling you she loves you", I said, smiling as I petted Iggy on his head

"Hey! Come on! That tickles!", he said, with his face scrunching up more

"Okay Lola, come here", I said, holding out my hand and she walked along my arm to rejoin Iggy

Mikey shook his head with a bit of fur flying off his face as I then took a few fruit treats from a bag beside their cage in my hand. "Would you like to feed them?", I asked

His blue eyes went wide. "Can I?!", he asked

"Yeah, here watch this", I said

I took one of the fruit treats and I made a little clicking sound to get Iggy's attention. "Iggy, stand", I said, holding the treat out in front of him

Iggy slowly got to his feet as I began to move the treat farther away and he began to walk slowly on his hind legs following the treat. I made him walk along my arm a short distance before I held the treat to him and he took into his paws and began to eat it. "Good boy Iggy", I said, giving his back a stroke

"Wow I wanna try!", Mikey said

"Here", I said, handing him a treat "Just make that noise and tell Lola to stand and make her walk"

Mikey tried mimicking the same clicking noise I made and he held the treat out in front of Lola. "Lola, stand", he said

Lola heard him and got up on her hind legs and began to walk along my other arm towards the treat. He made her walk a distance till she started walking faster and faster till she got to my hand, before he handed her the treat. "Good girl Lola", he said, stroking her head with his finger

"Wow never could get her to walk that far, that was really awesome Mikey!", I said

"I am the King Rat, rodents kneel before me!", he said, in a dramatic evil tone teasingly doing striking out his arms

I couldn't help but giggle at his child like behavior. "Nice try Mikey, but they are not that obedient", I said, as I set them back in their cage locking the door

"So much for getting service", he said, teasingly

I giggled. "Oh well", I said "And we have my last one, this is Skittles"

I moved the sheet off the cage and resting on a perch was my macaw waking up. She squawked as she flew up and landed on my wrist and she stretched out her wings. "Wow never seen a macaw like that before! Not like in real life", he said, as Skittles looked at him

"She is a scarlet macaw", I said "Had her since I was thirteen"

"Why the name Skittles?", he asked

"Okay so I was struggling to figure out a name for her because I adopted her from the humane society and I wanted her name to be a good one", I said "Try to use a different name than what people normally name a bird like Polly, Birdy or Tweety something like that. So I was eating skittles trying to figure out a name for her and then it hit me when I was saw the same colors of the candy matched her feathers and I am thinking, hey I should name her Skittles since she has all the colors and is very sweet like them"

"Huh how creative!", he said, smiling

I giggled. "Or weird", I said

"How old is she?", he asked

"She is 18 years old, so same age as me", I said "And she loves talking and doing impersonations"

"She can talk?", he asked, surprised

"Yeah really well, here I'll show you", I said "Skittle can you say hi?"

She then held up her wing in front of her beak while Mikey laughed. "Oh it's okay baby don't be shy, he is nice", I said "Can you say hi Skittles?"

"Hi Skittles", she said, laughing

"Okay she is a little nervous, so can you say hi Skittles?", I said

"Hi Skittles", she said, again still laughing

He looked at her amazed as Skittles stopped laughing. "Okay being very literal, it's a comedy I get it", I said "Okay let's rephrase the question, how about you wave with your foot and just say hi?"

She then rose up her left foot and waved it. "Hi, hi, hi, hi", she said, repeatedly

"Good girl!", I said, petting her head

"Wow that is so cool!", Mikey said

"Here watch this", I said "Can you give a big kiss Skittles?"

Skittles made a clicking noise making it sound like kissing sound effect. "And this one she does really realistic", I said "Can you cough?"

Skittles did a coughing sound while shaking her head back and forth. "Good girl!", I said, giving the tip of her beak a kiss as she flapped her wings

"Can you she do a Dark Vader impersonation?", Mikey asked

"Not quite", I said, smiling "We do practice that one though, she is getting better each time, I'm hoping we can get it right very soon"

Skittles then rested on top of Mikey's arm as he looked at her with a smile and Skittles looking back at him with curiosity. "You can sit down with her if you want, I'll get us some drinks"

I went into the kitchen and I took out two glasses and got some ice from the freezer, sliding them inside. I then opened another cabinet and smiled taking two cans of my favorite soda. The fizzy bubbles made it look really refreshing and tasty, and best of all its vegan. I carried the two glasses back into the living room and I giggled seeing Skittles was swinging off from Mikey's gold chain as he swung her standing up. "Oh should of warned you, she loves to swing on anything that hangs", I said, giggling

"Yeah should of warned me, she has got an iron grip", he said, still swinging her

He then stopped and took her off his chain and set her on top of his shoulder. "It's really all I have that might be tasty for you, but I don't know if you maybe might like Orange Crush", I said, looking down at the glasses

"You like Orange Crush too?!", Mikey asked, looking surprised "I knew it! I knew couldn't be the only obsessed with it!"

"Me too! It's like the best ever!", I said, handing him a glass

He took a big a gulp of it, nearly drinking the whole entire glass with one gulp, before letting out a sigh of refreshment. "Nothing beats the taste of a delicious beverage!", he said

I giggled. "You got that right! I would be drinking this like there is no tomorrow", I said, as we sat down on the couch

"I mean who doesn't like this?! It's full of flavor, just the right amount of bubbles, and creates the best burps", he said

He then suddenly burped out loud as if it were by coincidence as he blushed in embarrassment. "Well excuse you", I said, shoving his arm

"Sorry", he said, sheepishly "My bad"

"It's cool", I said, smiling "But yeah I agree, best soda ever"

"I mean who doesn't like this?", he asked

"People who have no good taste", I said, cocking an eyebrow

"Exactly!", he said, nodding his head firmly before taking another gulp

"Um question?", I said

"Yeah?", he asked

"How did you even know where I lived?", I asked

He looked at me sheepishly. "Oh that, I kind of followed you home that night you helped me out", he said "Just to make sure you weren't going to be followed or attacked. I also kind of saw you in your window"

"I figured", I said, smirking

"But I wasn't spying on you or anything!", he said, quickly shaking his head

"It's cool", I said, shoving his arm "I would of done the same thing too if I was in your shoes"

"How could you? Your feet couldn't possibly fit in these", he said, teasingly lifting up his foot

We both started laughing even with Skittles joined in the laughter. "Haha that was a good one", I said, giggling "You are funny"

"I have been known to please a crowd with my humor", he said, with a charming proud smile

I giggled. "Well you proved me right", I said, taking a sip of my drink

"So how long have you been living here?", he asked "A few months?"

"Too young that's pretty much all I can say", I said, shaking my head "I have been living on my own since I was fifteen"

He looked at me shocked. "Why did you leave so young? You run away or something?", he asked

I shook my head as I took another sip of my soda, before setting it down on the table. "No", I said "I have a bad relationship with my mom, just everyday there would always be a fight about something, just had to get out of there you know"

"Were you scared?", he asked

"A little", I said, nodding truthfully "At first I didn't know what I was getting myself into, I didn't know where to start. I mean I was just a fifteen year old girl who has leukemia with no money or anything trying to find a new place to start. Luckily I had a struck of luck when a lady gave me a job assisting teaching kids art at the local school here, she even offered me a place to stay until I got my savings up. When I graduated from high school, I worked as a full time waitress while doing online classes to get my tattooing license"

"You are a tattoo artist?", he asked, with his eyes going wide

"Yeah been one for a little while now", I said, smiling a little

"So you like own your own shop? That would be so awesome!", he said

"Well not yet", I said "I'm working my way up to owner position. My boss Bryan is teaching me all the things I need to know how to do and everything before he allows me to take the reigns"

"You will have to show me everything! Like where you work, your designs, your space! Everything!", he said, sounding ecstatic and shaking my shoulders

"Okay woah woah woah!", I said, giggling from seeing his excitement holding my hands up "Of course, but we will have to wait till night to sneak in after hours and I can show you everything from there"

"Can't wait!", he said

I smiled and then my glow and the dark clock began glowing all different colors showing the time. "Awwww man it's midnight! I'm going to be so late to get home! The guys are going to kill me!", he said, suddenly getting up

"Are you going to get in trouble?", I asked, getting up from my seat

"Yeah! I'll be grounded for like a week!", he said, taking his skateboard and putting it behind his shell

"Ugh hated being grounded as a teen, such a pain in the butt", I said

"Right!", he said

"Here I'll lead you out here", I said

I opened up my huge window up to the top and Mikey crawled out by wedging his giant figure in sideways to get out on to my fire escape.

"Oh you might want to have these back", I said, revealing to him the ninja stars out of my pants pocket

"Woah! How did you get these?", he asked, taking them from my hand

"Let's just say they nearly speared me in the head", I said, cocking an eyebrow

"Oh my god! I am so sorry! I was trying to get the ninjas and I thought-", he said, sounding all panicky

"I'm just kidding with you!", I said, shoving him playfully "I am fine, don't worry about it"

"I didn't hurt you?", he asked

"No, just nearly had my heart leap out of my chest and see my life flash before my eyes, I'm alright", I said, giggling

"Oh good", he said, taking a huge breath "But yeah sorry I didn't know they nearly hit you"

"It's okay", I said, smiling

"Hey but we won the match, that's the main thing!", he said

"Nah main thing is that I knock those guys on their asses with my air tank", I said

"Girl power was on a roll that night!", he said, bumping up a fist

I laughed smiling and we gave each other a high five, then a knuckle touch, doing an dramatic explosion sound effect. "Yeah boy!", I said, giggling

"You know what, why don't you keep these", he said, handing them back to me

"But they are yours Mikey", I said, as I took them "I couldn't take them"

"Nah don't worry I get like a whole supply of them at home", he said, smiling and shaking his head "Keep them"

"Wow thanks! I got my own ninja stars", I said, looking at them

"Catch you later dudette, I'll see you around! Got to go!", he said, climbing out the window

"Well it was really nice to meet you again and see you for the first time, Mikey", I said, sitting on my window sill "Bye"

He was about to jump off my fire escape until he stops and looks back at me. "By the way I never caught your name", he said, pointing a finger at me

"Oh right, that would be rather useful to know", I said, giggling "It's Skylar, Skylar Richards"


	4. Chapter 4

Sky's Pov...  
Banging my head side to side and my hips swaying, I listened to my favorite songs on my speaker as I cleaned up my work station. I dusted my shelves of paints as I spun around getting into the beat of listening to "Need Your Love by Shaggy" and I swayed towards my reclining chair and sprayed it with furniture polish and wiped it clean till it was all shiny. I straightened out my canvases of spin art work on my wall as the best part of the song came on and I began to sing along to it while dancing all around the room.

I need your love, I need your love,  
I need your lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-love  
I need your love, I need your love,  
I need your  
I need your love, I need your love,  
I need your lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-love  
Let me love you o-o-o  
Wo o-o-o, wo o-o-o  
Let me love you o-o-o

I need your love, I need your love,  
I need your lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-love  
I need your love, I need your love,  
I need your yes, mi amor  
I need your love, I need your love,  
I need your lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-love  
Let me love you o-o-o

As I did a final spin leaning back singing the last line of the chorus, I stood up giggling but then without warning, a face was staring at me through my small window I had and I shrieked and fell backwards doing a flip on my chair landing on the floor with a thump. I quickly got up and looked over and saw Mikey staring at me with a huge grin. "Nice moves! You got groove dudette!", he said, with his voice sounding muffled behind the glass

I quickly went over sliding the window open. "Dude seriously?! You scared the crap out of me! I thought I was going to have a heart attack!", I said, sounding a bit annoyed

"Sorry", he said, smiling sheepishly "I didn't want to make anyone see or hear me, I thought you were alone, besides I got distracted by your dancing"

I took a breath, knowing he didn't mean to do it on purpose and that he was only watching me. "It's okay, and sorry, I had no idea you were coming by down here", I said

"I was in the neighborhood", he said "Just chilling out, I'm sorry I scared you"

"Its cool, just let's make a further reference to make some kind of signal to let me know you are going to sneak up on me", I said, smirking

"Yeah right", he said, rubbing the back of his neck sounding awkward

"Here come on in, my boss just left and its just you and me", I said, walking back to my tray

Mikey started to wedge his small but yet thick body in through the small window, wiggling like a worm trying to get out of the dirt. "Wait how did you even know where I worked?", I asked

"Well it was the only tattoo shop that was on your block here", he said, craning his head to look at me

"Mmmmmm point taken", I said, shrugging my shoulders nodding "Sorry about the mess I was just cleaning up my place by the time you had gotten here"

"Nah don't worry you should see my room, its way worse than anything!", he said, jumping inside

"I can imagine", I said, giggling

He closed the window as he started looking around my work station. "Hey nice gig you got Sky! I love the street art", Mikey said, looking around

"Oh thanks, yeah when I first got hired here we were allowed to design our own station how we wanted to", I said "I always saw graffiti all the time when growing up, so I used my artistic skills and made it look like graffiti, but the good kind that police wouldn't arrest you for"

"Were you always this good? These are awesome!", he said

"No surprisingly not, I stunk at drawing", I said, giggling "I was never any good at it"

"Seriously? But it looks like you have been doing this all your life", Mikey said, surprised

"Nope", I said, shaking my head "All my artwork was scribbled, slanted or just plain out messy. But I never gave up on it, I took art classes in school to improve till I got my tattooing license"

"Well you certainly got quite an artistic view my friend", he said, sitting on my chair kicking back

"Thanks, doodling in my notebook when the teacher did a boring lecture in class did bring in some extra practice", I said, cleaning a needle

"That's something I would be doing if Leo gave us a boring lecture about the whole ninja thing", Mikey said, laughing

"Oh? Who is Leo? A friend of yours?", I asked

"He is actually my older brother", he said "I got three of them, I am the baby of the family"

"That's cool, I wish I had siblings growing up", I said

"They can be a bit of pain in the shell though", he said, shrugging "Got two of them fighting most of the time, and one that causes explosions from doing crazy experiments and using my stuff as test subjects"

"Wow, not your typical siblings you would hear about", I said, surprised

"Yeah but even though we do have our differences we still love each other deep", he said

"Well that's always what matters", I said, smiling "No matter how crazy the relationship might be"

"I wouldn't call it crazy, I would say its more insane", he said, snickering

I couldn't help but giggle. "Well you are sure are lucky, that sounds better than having to do things by yourself all the time", I said, looking away

"What do you mean?", he asked

"I was kind of left to myself growing up, really kind of like the kid who had to grow up quick at an early age and take care of herself", I said, cleaning a needle with my rag

"Why?", he asked, looking at me concerned

I sighed and gulped hard, this subject was always hard to bring up to anyone, as I set my rag and needles down on the tray. "Because of my parents splitting up", I said "I was kind of forgotten in the whole process"

"How come your parents split up?", he asked

"I really honestly don't know", I said, shaking my head "It's just like one minute everything was okay and then the next moment it goes to shit"

"Well that doesn't sound right", he said "Don't you still talk with your parents?"

"Mom hardly anymore since every time we talk it always ends up in an argument and dad haven't talked to him since he left us", I said, shaking my head

"That doesn't make any sense", he said "Just getting up and leaving like that"

"You are telling me", I said, nodding my head

I looked down and stopped with my cleaning with my rag. I stood still what seemed like an eternity until I finally felt myself moving, but it was small movement, my lip quivering. I then began to shake uncontrollably as emotions began to build up inside of me. "Sky?", Mikey said, worriedly

I tried to put on a straight face as I looked up at him, trying not to make it obvious. "No, no its fine Mikey, I am okay really", I said, with my voice sounding like it was cracking

"Hey, come here", he said, holding out his arms out to me

I didn't think twice of walking to him as I wrapped my arms around him and he brought me into such a warm embrace that was filled with comfort. "Just let it out Sky, just let it all out", he said

When he said those words, it was like a chain reaction and everything that was bottled up inside of me for a decade had finally been released from the damn. I started to cry into his shoulder as the years of pain, sadness and loneliness poured out of me. As much it hurts me, it felt good to finally have someone be there and let me take everything that was torturing me everyday out of my system. I was worried I was making this uncomfortable for Mikey, but all he did was just bring me close to him and his hand rubbed my back in soothing circles, encouraging me to keep going. "It's okay Sky, just let it all out, I am here for you", he said, softly

Although I only cried for another good ten minutes, it seemed like I was crying for hours. I honestly would not have let my emotions spilled out if Mikey was not there. I slowly pulled away from him but he kept me in his arms as I let out shaky breathes while Mikey rubbed my shoulders helping me calm down. "Are you okay?", he asked

"Yeah, yeah I am good", I said, nodding my head "I am sorry, you just get to a point where you hold it in for so long, it just finally breaks"

"It's perfectly fine Sky, everyone needs to cry every now and again", he said

"Yeah, but I should of done that a long time ago, you know I am going to be honest with you", I said "I haven't cried in ten years"

"Seriously?!", he said, looking shocked

"Just couldn't do it", I said, shaking my head "I had to keep focused and keep moving, I had no time to grieve since I was so busy taking care of myself and other things"

"I can't believe you held it in for that long", he said

"I am surprised myself, it's just I really don't know why I lost everything so fast, it was just out of my reach when I wanted to fix it and make it right and it's just not fair", I said, feeling my eyes fill up more with tears

Mikey gently took his hand and wiped away at the falling tears down my cheeks. "Hey, don't worry, it will get better", he said

I nodded managing to smile a little bit. "I do hope so too, thanks", I said, nodding

"You feel better now?", he asked

"Much better than what I have been feeling in this past decade", I said "It feels good to finally let it all out"

He smiled. "Hey I think I got an idea, wanna head down by the shores for a little while? If you have nothing to do, you know to get your mind off of everything", he said

I looked slightly away thinking about it for a moment till I smiled up to him. "That sounds really nice, I would love to", I said, nodding in agreement

"Great!", he said, enthusiastically, making me giggle "I have never been down there before and I really always wanted to go"

"Seriously? You haven't?", I asked, surprised

"Not allowed to, could be seen", he said, shrugging

"Well tonight we can make it an exception", I said, grabbing my bag "Cause I know the best spot where you won't be seen"

"You sure?", he asked

"Have I ever stirred you wrong?", I asked, giving him a cocked eyebrow

"Well we did just meet only two days ago", he said

"Close enough", I said, smiling "Come on, let me lock up and we can go!"

I made sure all the lights were turned off and security system was up and running before peeking outside the door, making sure no one was around to see Mikey. "Coast is clear, come on", I said, looking back

I walked out with Mikey following close behind me as he jumped up swinging on the tattoo parlor lit up neon sign and swung up to another building on the rooftop beside the shop, then looked down at me. "What are you doing up there?", I asked

"Be safer, don't want to get spotted, always do this when I am out", he said

"Ahhh okay then, follow me, its close by here", I said, walking away

I walked on the sidewalk, occasionally looking up to see Mikey was doing all these cool moves while moving across the rooftops. He made it look so easy to do, though if I did it, it would probably leave me with a broken bone or possibly pushing myself to an early grave. I slipped on my aquamarine Aeropostale zip up hoodie as it started to get breezy out and made sure that my green bandanna with white flowers on it was tight around my head, not wanting it to fly away.

Walking for a few more blocks we made it to the sea side, I looked up to see Mikey had flipped down trying to do a smooth landing, but had hit a flagpole that was hanging off of someone's balcony and he shrieked as he landed hard into a dumpster, with the lid closing down on top of him. "Mikey!", I called out, worriedly

He then opened the lid up with his arm, giving me a dizzy look, like the one you would see if someone was seeing stars floating around and gave me a thumbs up. "I'm okay", he said, with his head spinning

He fell backwards with the lid closing in on top of him. "Oh brother", I said, rolling my eyes walking towards the dumpster

After Mikey recovered from his leap of faith, we walked down the board walk and climbed down the stairs getting down on the sand. "We made it", I said, smiling

"It looks way better than seeing it from a distance!", Mikey said, looking around "This is awesome!"

"Race you to the water!", I said, shoving his shoulder playfully

I took off running across the sand looking back seeing Mikey wasn't too far behind me. "Hey! No fair Sky, you got a head straight!", he called out, trying to catch up

"Snooze you lose big guy!", I called out, running backwards before running forward again "Catch me if you can slowpoke!"

"Oh its on girl! Just wait till I get a hold of you!", he called out

I laughed as I did a cartwheel showing off since I was far enough ahead where I didn't think Mikey would be able to catch up. But I guess I showed off too soon as Mikey started to come straight at me like a bullet and I shrieked trying to pick up the pace as Mikey laughed trying to grab at me with his arms. "Who is the slowpoke now?!", he said, with a smirk

"No! No!", I said, laughing and screaming

He then finally caught me as he grabbed my arms bringing me to him, but he tripped in a hole in the sand and before you know it we were both rolling over each other continuously on the damp sand, grunting. We finally came to a stop as I landed on top of Mikey and we both looked at each other now covered in sand and we both struggled not to laugh, but we then suddenly bursted out laughing our heads off. "I feel like I just came out of being buried alive", I said, laughing

"I feel like the Sandman put too much sand on me", Mikey said, snickering "I might sleep for an entire month!"

"Wow for a turtle you sure can run fast", I said

"You are no slouch yourself", he said

I giggled as I slid off of him as Mikey sat up and a gush of wind smacked into us. Mikey tried to block the wind with his arm while I held on to my bandanna with my hands and scrunching my face up. "Yikes very windy tonight!", he said

I opened my eyes slightly to see, but then went wide seeing what was in front of us. "Sandstorm!", I said, pointing straight ahead

A huge whirlwind of sand came straight for us as the wind blew hard. "Duck!", I yelled

"Yipe!", Mikey said

We turned on our stomachs with Mikey's arm going around me as the sand blew over and around us as we hid our faces down, avoiding the flying minerals. When I felt the wind had finally died down we both slowly started to sit up. "Woah that was close", Mikey said, shaking off some sand from his shoulder

"Too close", I said, giggling shaking the sand off of my bandanna

I then noticed something out of the corner of my eye that looked like a small ditch and something shining out of it from the glowing moon up in the sky. "Hey what's that?", I asked, crawling over

"What's what?", Mikey asked

"There is something buried here", I said, moving closer

I began to move some of the sand that the wind had blown away and I gasped amazed. "Woah Mikey, look what I found!", I said "It's a nest!"

"No way! Seriously?!", he said, quickly coming over to check it out

"It's a sea turtles nest", I said "Look all these eggs!"

"Woah that's a lot of eggs! How many are there?", he asked

"Probably a good hundred in here, that's the average size of any sea turtle", I said "I wonder what species it might be"

"Well I think we might just find out", Mikey said "Look one is hatching!"

One little egg on top of the clutch began to move and we both moved closer to get a better look. The top of the egg made a slight crack and a little black head poked its head out. "Come on you can do it, move your way out of there", Mikey said, encouraging the baby

It then gave a few more wiggles before it made it out of its previous home and slid down over the other eggs and began to look around. It had a little hard black shell and light grey flippers and I then realized what species it was. "They are leatherback sea turtle eggs!", I said, surprised

"Look there are more coming out!", Mikey said, pointing

The sound of eggshells cracking filled the air as the baby turtles wiggled their way out of the protective shells they have been growing in for months as they started to explore the outside world. "Awwwww they are so cute!", Mikey said, completely adored by the little hatchlings while laying on the sand

"They sure are", I said, agreeing

I noticed one was on its shell wiggling about as it tried to get back on its belly flapping its little flippers. I gently picked it up with my hand turning it over on its right side. "There you go little fella", I said, putting it back on the sand

The baby turtles then started to make their way over the small dunes of sand which seem huge to them out towards the ocean. "Where are they going?", Mikey asked

"They are off to start a new life, out into an unknown world of discovery", I said

"Let's hope they make it", he said, watching them go over the sand

"Come on, let's follow them", I said, crawling behind them

"Hey wait for me!", he said

We both crawled on our stomachs following the little hatchlings in front of and beside us, as if we were turtles ourselves. Well count Mikey as already being one. Over the sand as they made it closer and closer towards the edge of the water. "They are so tiny, I wasn't even that small when I was little", Mikey said, looking at one crawling over a little dune

"And to think, if most of them make it out there, they will grow up to more than seven feet long and weigh nearly as much as a car", I said

"Wow that's huge! That's bigger than my brother!", Mikey said, amazed

I giggled as we made it closer to the water and we watched all the baby turtles swim to the water and being swept away by the current. "Good luck little dudes and dudettes!", Mikey called out "Let us know what you find out there!"

"If only they could Mikey", I said, shaking my head smiling

I then got an idea as I saw one of the inflatable boats with a motor attached to the back on the dock. "Hey I got an idea, come on", I said, getting up and running towards the edge of the dock "We can head out there and see if we can find more critters"

"Wait up!", he called out

He followed close behind as I jumped in the boat with Mikey hoping in front. "Light it up captain!", he said, doing a salute

I started up the motor as we began to quickly move out into the sea. "Wahoo! This is awesome!", Mikey said, holding his arms out imagining like he was flying through the air

I couldn't help but giggle at his behavior of imitating the scene in the Titanic. "Hang on Mikey, you don't want to go overboard!", I called out, laughing

We drove the boat out till we were out where you could just see the beach and I could hear splashing being heard. "Hey there is something out there!", Mikey called out, looking back at me

"What is it?", I called out

"I don't know but its really big!", he said

I took a peek beside him and from the glowing moonlight on the surface of the water, I could see slender white animals jumping out of the water as they landed diving back down. I thought at first I was seeing dolphins, but as I looked closer they were much bigger than dolphins and as one jumped up again making a shadow in front of the moon I couldn't help myself but get excited.

"Woah beluga whales! I have seen them from the shoreline but never this close!", I said

As I moved the boat closer, two of them dove under the water while two others jump out of the water, diving back down into the dark abyss of the water. When I stopped the boat and there was no sign of them as the water settled and there was silence. "Where did they go?", Mikey asked

"I don't know, they were just here", I said "Maybe we might of scared them with the motor"

"Wait there is one!", Mikey said, pointing

Suddenly one appeared on the surface and began to swirl around, as if it was dancing and we both started laughing and then it blew air out of its blowhole and swam closer to us, poking its head above the surface before it dove down. Then the others started to swim around us and one as it dove down swung with his huge tail on the surface of the water splashing us both. "Hey!", Mikey said, shaking himself free of the water

I giggled and then one suddenly came straight towards us and it jumped out of the water flying over us and the boat. "Wow!", I said, amazed

"Cool!", Mikey said, sounding excited like me

The other whales started to swim around us and started to jump out of the water splashing us repeatedly. Like we were in our own splash zone. As each whale breached landing down on the water, we both got soaked to the bone but we didn't care, we were just laughing and laughing at the performance. One more then came out in front of us leaning backwards and splashing down in front of us, making a huge wave splash on top of us and even making the whole boat sway back and forth before it settled, making us both shriek with laughter. "Oh my god!", I said, giggling "Dude I am soaked!"

"Me too! And I thought you get more soaked at Sea World!", he said, shaking his head from the water

Then the whales appeared in front of us, poking their heads out beside the boat. "You guys sure got skills, but nice job on getting us wet", I said, petting on its head

"Yeah dudes, that was awesome!", Mikey said, petting one too

One then jumped more in the water where it was at my eye level moving its flippers side to side, like arms moving to me. "Awwwww sure, you can have a hug", I said, hugging it gently for a few seconds before it dipped back down in the water

One swam up towards Mikey till it flipped on its back showing its underbelly and Mikey gently stroked it, as it held itself still. "Awwwww they are adorable like the little turtles!", Mikey said, looking at me

"These whales are very social with human interaction if they are out here, but I have never seen a pod that was this social", I said, stroking one's head "Let alone will allow you to actually touch them"

"I guess we are considered lucky tonight", Mikey said

"Yeah really lucky", I said, smiling

The whales then dove down as the tide started to come around again and they began to swim off into the moonlight. "Bye you guys!", I called out, waving

"Hope we will see you again soon!", Mikey called out

As if by coincidence one whale stuck its tail up in the air and waved it side to side, like it was waving back to us as we both laughed. "Now that was awesome!", I said

"Totally! Great night on the sea side!", he said

"Come on, let's head back to shore", I said, as I started up the motor

I stirred the boat towards the dock as we rode along the waves carrying us faster. We ported the boat where it was last put and we climbed back on the stairs to the top of the boardwalk. We decided to go hang out at my place for a little while before Mikey had to head home. As like how we walked to the shore, Mikey ran along the rooftops while I walked on the sidewalk below. I was listening to my music on my phone through my earbuds jamming out, not acknowledging anything and I learned my lesson of not to do that, as my leg ran into something causing me to loose my balance. Luckily I had caught myself on a wall catching my breath. Mikey seemed to have noticed me trip as I saw him quickly jumping down on the staircases of a fire escape landing in front of me. "You okay Sky?", he asked

"Yeah I am cool", I said, giggling "That was my fault, I was jamming out, whatever was in that box sure is heavy for it to make me nearly fall on my face"

We looked over seeing the small box, but then we suddenly heard a noise coming from it, making it shake slightly. "Uh did you just see that?", I asked, a bit confused

"Yeah I did, what the heck was that?", he asked, looking at it freaked out

I moved closer towards it as it moved again, this time pushing up on the closed flaps on top of each other, making us both flinch back. "Okay something is definitely in there", I said

"What if its a snake?! Like a rattlesnake?! Or a cobra?!", Mikey said, in fear

"There is no is snake in there", I said, laughing "We would know if there was one in there"

"What if there is one in there? It could like lunge out at us!", Mikey said, laughing

"There isn't, there is no hissing or rattling", I said, giggling "It's probably jumping beans or something Mikey, someone probably delivered it and they are waiting to get it in the morning"

Mikey cautiously went to the box and began to tap on the flaps of the box. "Maybe there is nothing in there", he said "Knock knock"

I then noticed one of the flaps of the box push down inside. "Wait push that flap down a little more because I have my flash now", I said, taking out my phone and turning on the flashlight "Maybe I can get a better look"

He pushed down on the flap as I got down on my knees and peered inside and then a pair of glowing eyes met mine and a twitchy nose looked up at me. "It's a bunny!", I said, looking up at Mikey quickly "Its a bunny Mikey!"

"What?! Oh my god!", he said, shocked

"Look!", I said, pointing inside

He peered inside and gasped as the little rabbit poked its head out of the opening. "Oh my god, its a little rabbit!", Mikey said

"Here hold this!", I said, handing him my phone

He took it as I started to open up the box and inside was the cutest rabbit I have ever seen. It was a good size that can fit perfectly in my arms, with black and brown patches with black hairs and a cute pink nose with long whiskers and long black ears. "Is there anymore in there?", Mikey asked

"No its just this bunny", I said, completely awed

The bunny stood up on its hind legs resting its front paws on the rim of the box and I carefully picked it up as it tried to climb on me. "Awwww that's a cute one!", Mikey said

"Oh my god hello!", I said, petting its head gently "You are so freaking cute!"

"What do we do with it?", Mikey asked

"I don't know its just Mikey oh my god!", I said, struggling to hold my tears as well as my awe "Oh my god! Who does this?! Mikey, he is freezing, he is shaking in my arms!"

"Oh he is scared!", he said, petting his back as the bunny curled up more in my arms

"You know what he is coming home with me", I said, tucking him into my jacket

"Yeah definitely go with you!", Mikey said, nodding eagerly

"Can't believe that, who would dare do this to you?!", I said, kissing the bunnies little nose

"Oh my god! We just rescued a rabbit!", Mikey said, running up beside me

"Jesus Christ, the little guy could of died out here", I said, looking at him

"Is he okay?", he asked, looking inside my jacket

"Looks like it, he is settling down, I will have to give him a good look over when I get home", I said, pulling him closer to me "Climb up on the rooftops, we will head back to my place"

"Gotcha dudette!", he said, running off into the alley and jumping up to the top

I did a quick walk with Mikey following close beside me from up above as we headed back to my place. Luckily we didn't have to walk too far before we made it back to my place. I quickly walked up the stairs and went inside my apartment and it wasn't long before Mikey came in through my back window, climbing inside. "Get my blanket, off the couch!", I said, as I quickly went to the thermostat

Mikey quickly got my thick blanket off the couch bunching it up as I turned up the heat to make it warm up quickly. The air started blowing soothing warm air as I got the rabbit out of my jacket and into the blanket. Mikey bundled him up rubbing him gently to warm him up. "Keep him still I am going to see if he is going okay", I said

I did a physical check on the rabbit to make sure he wasn't injured or showing any signs of illness from being out in the cold. "I think we just saved him in the knick of time", I said "He doesn't appear to have any injuries and no signs of contracting any illness"

"Oh that's a relief!", he said, letting out a huge sigh

"He just needs to warm up", I said "Keep him in that blanket for a little while, he needs to stay warm, I'm going to see if we can make him eat a little"

I went into my fridge and I grabbed a few pieces of parsley, a baby carrot and a leaf of kale and went walking back into the living room and I smiled seeing the bunny sniffing at Mikey's face. "He feels like Lola and Iggy", he said, chuckling

I giggled. "Here baby, I got some food, you must be hungry", I said

Mikey turned the rabbit around as I held out the piece of kale and the rabbit quickly bit at the fresh vegetable and started eating it like crazy. "Oh you were starving honey", I said

"Poor little guy", Mikey said, looking sadly at him "Why was he left out there?"

I sighed. "I am afraid it was human ignorance and lack of care, respect and love for this little guy and decided they didn't want to care for him anymore", I said

"How could they?", Mikey said, sadly "That's just...terrible"

"I am not so sure why Mikey, but I hate to say this, but this happens everyday all around the world", I said

He looked at me scared and then down at the rabbit and he held him closer, afraid that he was going to be taken from him. He petted him along his head and back, and rocking him side to side. He looked like a child that was scared during a thunderstorm, hugging his beloved stuffed animal to him for comfort and security. "Mikey", I said

He looked up at me with small tears in his eyes. "But there are people out there who are trying to stop this, so that it never has to happen again, like what you and I did tonight. We saved his life and he is going to be okay, he won't be alone anymore and he will be safe from harm and will feel nothing but love", I said

"Really?", he said, hopefully

"Yes, I promise", I said

"Are you going to keep him?", he asked

"I am, besides I have been wanting to get a rabbit for quite some time and he is just the sweetest thing I have ever seen", I said, scratching his ear "He will live here with me, better for him anyways than leaving him out there or taking him to a shelter"

"Yes!", he said, in a victory voice

I giggled and the rabbit looked up at Mikey and began to sniff his face again as he laughed. The bunny then began to chew on his mask tugging on it with his little teeth. "Hey cut that out! That's my mask", he said, laughing

I laughed along too. "Be warn Mikey bunnies love to chew on anything", I said

The bunny then jumped down from the couch and began to hop around, exploring his new home. He sniffed at my furniture and rubbed up against it and without warning he binked into the air and began to run around. Mikey and I laughed as he ran around the couch several times. "What is he doing?", Mikey said, looking over the couch

"He is happy, rabbits do that when they are really happy", I said

The bunny then stopped running and he then flopped against the baseboard. We both couldn't help but awe as he was trying to catch his breath from his burst of happiness. "Oh my god, he is so adorable!", I said

"What should we name the little guy?", Mikey asked

"Mmmmmm well since you were the one to find him, why don't you name him?", I said

"Awesome! Mmmmmm let's see", Mikey said, getting on the floor and looking at the bunny as it sniffed his face and climbed on to the back of his shell

Mikey looked to be in deep thought of trying to think of a name, tapping his fingers on the hardwood floor, as the rabbit jumped down from him and sniffed his face. The glow of the white moon came in through the window as it made the whole room shine white casting a shadow on everything. "Hey I got it!", Mikey said, snapping his fingers

"What?", I asked

"How about Usagi?", he asked, looking up at me

"Usagi? What does that mean? Is it Chinese or something?", I asked, curiously

"It means rabbit of the moon in Japanese", he said, pointing towards the window "And since the moon is out and its casting out on him"

I looked out the window briefly seeing the moon, then looked back down at the rabbit. "Usagi, I love it!", I said "Usagi it is!"

"Yes!", Mikey said, doing a fist bump

Now the known rabbit named Usagi went hoping towards Mikey as he carefully picked him up and scratched the back of his ears as Usagi licked the side of his wrist. "Woah that feels weird", he said, watching him

"Awwwwww how cute, he has complete trust in you, he loves you", I said

Mikey smiled up at me and he began to pet Usagi more smiling, as Usagi enjoyed the affection by laying on his chest. I just smiled. You know I haven't smiled this much in ten years and it was all because of this guy. Mikey seemed to be healing my wounds and broken spirit not like anyone else could. I don't know why out of all people I have been with or seen, that this out of the ordinary person, a stranger of the outside world could make such a difference in me. Maybe this was a sign, a beacon of hope, that maybe I was suppose to meet him and that he was the one to help me bring out of my sad and depressing life. Maybe he is the friend that I have been finally waiting for.


	5. Chapter 5

Sky's Pov...  
One of my most favorite things to do during my past times is cooking. I don't know why but I always loved cooking when I was growing up. I always kept a various amounts of cook books that surprisingly have delicious vegan meals as well as making the same favorite foods that many people eat, but have it vegan style. I started to get the groceries out of the plastic bags when I came back from the market on the kitchen counter. I prepared a crock pot and began to peel the yellow potatoes over the sink, letting the skins fall in the drain, then slicing them into thin slices. I then began to dice the carrots and onions into tiny pieces before sliding all the vegetables into the pot. I poured a cup of water and coconut milk inside then adding a bit of cayenne pepper and paprika. I crushed a few cashews with my nut cracker before sprinkling them all over and then pouring a small tablespoon of lemon juice. As I turned up the heat letting the ingredients boil, I added a box of dried macaroni and a pinch of yeast, garlic powder, and salt before mixing it all together till it made a creamy yellow color. "Let's just hope this doesn't turn out to be a complete disaster", I said, to myself

I set the lid over the pot to let it keep the steam in as I set the timer on the oven for twenty minutes to allow the dish to cook. Skittles came flying over landing on my shoulder as I gave the back of her head a scratch and her beak a kiss. "Pretty bird", I said, as I hand her half of a banana

She took into her beak as she flew off landing on her perch and began to eat. I walked over to my fish tank and I opened the lid and sprinkled some natural fish food into the tank as the fish began to swim up quickly to the surface and began to feast catching and swimming after bits that started floating to the bottom of the tank. "Eat up you guys, its dinner time", I said, sprinkling in a little more food before closing the lid

But when I did close the lid I heard a tapping. I figured it was nothing, thinking it might of been my imagination, but then I heard it again this time harder and someone talking.

"Skylar, Skylar", a voice said, tapping my window repeatedly

I quickly walked over to my window looking confused and I pushed the curtains back and looked outside to see Mikey with a look of relief on his face, as if something was freaking him out. I unlocked my window and I slid it up and sat down on the window sill. "Mikey?", I said

"Hey", he said, smiling slightly sadly

"Hey what's going on?", I asked

"Is this a bad time?", he asked

"No, no I was just chilling out at home, not doing anything, why?", I asked

"Is it okay if I just hang out here for a little while?", he asked, looking desperate

I nodded quickly. "Yeah of course, absolutely, come on in", I said, getting off the window to let him come through

Mikey squeezed his body through the window as I moved away a few feet and waited for him to come inside. "Is everything okay?", I asked, concerned

He closed the window before letting out a sigh. "Just got into a fight", he said, looking at me

"Are you okay?", I asked, sounding panicked looking over him making sure there weren't any injuries on him "Are you hurt?"

"No I am fine, I wasn't hurt, I mean like in a verbal fight", he said

"What happened? Do you want to talk about it?", I asked

"Just my brothers saying I don't take things seriously, how I always act childish all the time and make like I am not an important member of the team", he said, shrugging

"Oh that's bullshit, pardon my French", I said, shaking my head "You do too take things seriously, you helped me with my emotions back at the shop, saved Usagi's life from death, and let alone saving my life from nearly drowning out in the ocean"

"Yeah but they don't know about those things", he said

"You mean you haven't told them about me?", I asked, surprised

"Skylar, if they knew you knew me, they would have my shell for that", he said "I would be in so much trouble"

"Is it bad that we know each other?", I asked, sounding concerned

"It's bad to them, because its a threat to know our existence and that we will be exposed to more humans, and that we could possibly be captured let alone killed", he said

"But I wouldn't tell anyone, I mean who is going to believe me anyways?", I said "Like hey guys guess what I was saved by a giant talking turtle who does martial arts, people will think I am more crazy than I am already. I am not going to expose you like that, you are my friend and I wouldn't put you in any danger by any means"

"I just worry what they might do to me if they found out, let alone what they might do to you", he said, looking worried

"Well if anyone tries anything, they got another thing coming towards them if they think they can do whatever to me or you just because we are friends", I said, seriously

"That's why I ran off, to get away from them, and I wanted to see you again", he said

"Awww Mikey", I said, walking over to him pulling him into my arms "You are welcomed here anytime you want, no matter what, day or night, if you need to get away or just want to come by, the window is always open"

"Thanks Sky", he said, wrapping his arms around me making into a hug

"I have dinner cooking right now", I said, looking up at him "I have enough for a few plates, if you want some?"

"Mmmmmmm yummy I am always hungry!", he said, licking his lips hungrily, looking over in the kitchen seeing the steam coming from the crock pot

"Well it will be ready soon, but you can just hang out with my critters till its done, they were wondering when they were going to see you again", I said, as Mikey walked over jumping over the couch landing on the sofa

Kisa was the first to greet him as she jumped down from her cat tree and landed on the couch and walked up to him and he smiled reaching behind him as he petted her head as she rubbed herself against him purring loudly. "Hey Kisa, purring like a motorboat there", he said

Skittles was next to greet him as she came flying off her perch towards him. "Hello Mikey", she squawked

"Hey she said my name!", he said, excitedly

"She just learned that last week, I was really eager to let her show you", I said, smiling

She landed on his shoulder as he gave her head a few gentle scratches. "Any luck on the Darth Vader impression yet?", he asked

"Still working on it, she is getting close, I think she will have mastered it by next week", I said

"You are lucky Sky, I wish I had this many pets like you have", he said, as he was getting cuddles by Kisa and Skittles

"Well they can be a bit of a handful, but I don't regret it, it's worth it", I said "I think you would be a great pet owner"

"You think so?", he asked

"I can tell you would be", I said, nodding "Do you think your family might let you have one?"

"Maybe, I am not so sure, its not like I could just walk in some place and adopt", he said, shrugging

"Well you could always help a stray one you know, I mean Kisa and Usagi were strays", I said "There is always a stray out there that could use some love"

"Yeah that is true, but the hardest part is convincing the family to let me have it", he said

"Well I think if you explain that you will be solely responsible over it, I don't see how they could not let you", I said

"I could give it a try, but I am not sure it will be a guarantee", he said

"Well you never know unless you try", I said, smiling  
"By the way, how's Usagi doing?", Mikey asked

"Oh he is perfect, he eats like a horse and sleep like a rock", I said, as I gave Iggy and Lola their pellets in their small bowl they shared "Hardly chews on any of my stuff too"

I could hear metal bars cling together and I looked over my shoulder seeing Usagi standing on his hind legs. I made him his own little enclosure with a wooden hutch, a play tunnel, scratching post and toys to chew on and a little litter box. He looked like he was trying to climb out of the cage, as he looked at Mikey. I couldn't help but smile. "Mikey it looks like someone is happy to see you", I said

Mikey grinned as he came walking up towards Usagi in his cage as he stretched his little body up to reach up higher to get his front paws on top of the cage. "Hey little furry dude!", Mikey said, as he picked him up in his arms and gave his ear a scratch "How you doing?"

Usagi rubbed his head against his hand then began to sniff around his shoulder climbing up more on him. "He really loves you Mikey, he must be very thankful for you saving his life", I said

"Well you helped too, it wasn't just me", he said

"Yeah I know, but I think you did the heroic act", I said, giving him a smile "You saved someone's life"

"Awwww shucks, just doing my job", he said, slightly blushing looking at me shyly

I giggled. "Well good news is he is in good health, I took him to the vet the morning after we found him to be on the safe side and the vet gave him the all clear for any complications", I said "The vet said we were lucky to save him just in time, a few more hours out there in the cold, he might of not made it"

"Well good thing we did take that path and not the scenic route", Mikey said

"You are telling me", I said, nodding in agreement

The sound of the oven went ringing off. "Oh great! Dinner is ready!", I said, walking quickly into the kitchen to shut off the timer

"What's for dinner Sky?", Mikey called out

"Hope you like mac and cheese", I said, taking the lid off the crock pot sniffing the freshly cooked meal "It's a new recipe I wanted to try"

"Well I am always up for trying something new", he said, getting up quickly running to the dinning table

I scooped out the pasta with my ladle as I set it on two plates and I came out with two bottles of Orange Crush soda balancing right next to it. "And since its a new recipe I made, I threw in our favorite drink to go along with it", I said

"You read my mind like a telepath", he said, giving me a thumbs up

I giggled. "As if I am one", I said, giggling as I placed the plates down and we began to eat

Mikey's Pov...  
The whole time we were eating together, I could not help myself and stare at Skylar for a few seconds before she noticed I was looking at her the whole time. Luckily I looked away in time not trying to make myself so suspicious. She really does have this bright and energetic personality. You could say that we were both very similar in personality, as well as the same interests for tattoos and animals. I am always trying to make people laugh and smile when they don't want to, feel sad, or even if they push me away. Not to mention Skylar is really nice, caring and cute too. And I don't mean that just because of my flirting every time I see a hot girl on a billboard or magazine, I mean she really is beautiful, maybe even more than my friend April. This girl really is someone who you seldom see, since most of the people if they see me would not react well, but she surprised me with her reaction and actually sees me as someone and not something. Seeing how far she has come from where she started really was an inspiration to me, from being on her own at a young age and making it out there without giving up, she is like a hero in my eyes.

As we finished the dinner, she took my plates and utensils and we both looked at each other and smiled. "That was really good Sky, it tasted different than what I normally would try", I said "What was that recipe?"

She kind of looked at me uneasily as she looked slightly away from me. I was starting to think I did something wrong or something else if that makes her not answer. Jeez now I feel like an idiot for bringing that up.

"Well to be truthful Mikey, there is something about me you don't know about", she said, as she looked back at me

"What do you mean?", I asked

"Well okay, but don't laugh when I tell you this", she said

"Why would I laugh at you?", I asked, looking confused at her

"I have told people about it before and they just think its just a joke", she said

"Hey we are friends dudette! I wouldn't laugh at you, well not unless it was a prank", I said, smirking

She giggled slightly at the joke. "Are you sure?", she asked, sounding a bit serious

"I won't laugh at you, I promise you", I said, giving her a honest smile

Her eyes looked down for a moment before she let out a breathe and looked up at me. "I am a vegan", she said, cringing

She then looked away as if she was waiting for me to burst out laughing. But I looked at her with a worried look before I got up and placed my hand on her shoulder. "I am not going to laugh at you about that", I said

Skylar looked up at me confused, as if she didn't believe what I was saying. "You are not?", she asked

"No, I am not going to laugh at you for what you eat and don't eat", I said, shaking my head

"Seriously?", she asked, with a cocked eyebrow

"Seriously, I am not kidding", I said, looking at her with truth in my eyes

"Wow, I was wrong, I thought you might of would of thought it was the most stupid thing you ever heard of", Skylar said "Saying that I am tree hugger or a grass eater or something like that"

"But that is who you are, if you are happy with it, then that is all that matters", I said, with a smile "It's your choice on how you live it and you should be proud for that"

She smiled. "Thanks Mikey", she said "That does mean a lot to me"

I smiled back to her. "So how long have you been a vegan?", I asked

"Pretty much all my life", she said, as I followed her in the kitchen "I started when I was nine"

"Wow that's quite the early start", I said, surprised "Usually you hear teenagers starting out first"

"Yeah at first I didn't know what a vegan was, that is until I talked with some activists doing a parade and they told me what happens behind the walls and closed doors", she said, starting to fill up the sink

"Is it bad as they say it is?", I asked, starting to help her wash the dishes

"If you saw the footage that I have from doing my activist work, you probably would have a major freak out", she said, nodding drying a plate

I gulped hard. "Yikes", I said

"Yeah its pretty disturbing", she said "That's why I am like I am today, I didn't want to be an intentional cause to what happens every day"

"I am sorry people tease you like that", I said, looking at her concerned

"It's okay Mikey", she said, with a small smile "Sometimes the best you can do is just to block out those words that can bring you down and keep yourself going, at least that is what I think. I mean I have been told I wouldn't make it out there when I first left home and I blocked out all that and look where I am now, being able to support myself, my animals and doing what I love and I believe in"

"That's good, more people should learn a thing or two from you Skylar", I said

"Well people could, if they were willing to listen which unfortunately doesn't happen too often", she said, with a smirk

"I hear that loud and clear", I said, smirking

We both laughed as we finished up with the dishes. "Thanks again for dinner Sky, it was really good", I said

"Awww no worries, glad you liked, it turned out better than what I imagined", she said, giggling "You want to stay for a little while longer or do you have to get going?"

"Mmmmm I don't know, my brothers they still might be up and about and I don't want to go back for a round two of hearing negative criticism", I said, uneasily

"Well if you want to stick around just to wait for the heat to die down by all means stay", she said, sipping her drink "I am not going to kick you out just like that"

"Great, jeez I am stuffed", I said, collapsing on the couch "That mac and cheese was very filling"

Sky's Pov...  
I collapsed on my bean bag chair right next to the couch. I know its not common in a living room, but hey its my space and I love it. "You said it dude", I said, stretching out my arms

After a few moments of the both of us crashing in the living room, I spent that time just looking around trying to figure out what to say and that's when my eyes locked on to my black helmets with green and white flames and a smile came to my face. I knew this was going to be fun. "Hey Mikey?", I asked

"Mmmmm?", he asked, looking over at me

"Do you want to try something new?", I asked

He gave me a strange look. "What do you mean?", he asked

"Ever been on a motorbike?", I asked

"Ummmm...no", he said

"Well want to?", I asked

"Is it safe?", he asked, sounding a bit unsure

"Would I stir you into danger?", I asked, cocking an eyebrow

"I don't think so", he said, shaking his head

"Well then you can trust me on this, want to go for a motorbike ride?", I said

"You have a bike?", he asked, surprised

"Yup sure do", I said, with a smile "It's a good one, very fast too"

"Well, then I say, let's do it!", he said, with a smile

"Awesome!", I said, getting up

I grabbed my helmets off my shelf and I tossed him one. "You will need this", I said "Meet me on the other side of the building in the parking garage, you are going to love it!"

"I am on it!", he said, quickly going over the couch and climbing out the window

I giggled as I watched him disappear out of my view. "This guys enthusiasm I swear, with the amount he has in his system he could light up the whole city", I said, to myself

I locked up my apartment and headed down the stairs and out the door. The parking garage was outside the apartment complex and I jumped over the guard and ran down the ramp. I saw Mikey swinging outside the concrete walls like a monkey on a vine on the railings. "Come on this way!", I called out, running

"Wait for me!", he called out

I ran up towards the end of the parking garage as Mikey slid right in through the opening. "Alright don't get too excited, it's a few years old so its not totally new", I said

I tossed off the protective dust cover, to reveal a dark green Yamaha motorcycle with black trim with silver rims around the black tires. The polish around it was a bit faded due to the elements, but other than it looked to be in good condition. "Oh woah! Are you kidding me?", he said, looking at it surprised

"I know I have to put some work into it, once I am done with it, its going to be show room awesome", I said, climbing on and putting on my helmet

"Well no time like testing this puppy out!", he said, climbing on and turning the key in the ignition

The motor roared as it started and Mikey slipped on his helmet putting on the windshield cover over his eyes. "You ready?", I asked, looking over my shoulder

"Let her rip!", he yelled

"Hang on tight!", I called out

I reared up the accelerator and just in a few seconds we were zooming across the parking garage at high speeds. Mikey held on to me around my shoulders and waist as we rode up on the ramp and I sped up the bike faster, making us do a little jump on the dip and I skid us quickly to the right as we sped down the street. "Skylar this is awesome!", Mikey yelled

"I told ya!", I called out

I reared up the bike even faster as we went down the vacant street doing a wheelie cheering. We rode miles from home going on the streets where there was little car and police activity to enjoy our wild ride. As we stopped at the docks to take a breather, the wind was blowing softly from the ocean beside us, where shipping crates were stacked getting prepared to board cargo ships, we both climbed taking a few gulps from our water bottles. "Woah what a rush!", Mikey said, taking off his helmet

"Told you it was fast! And that's just a stepping stone on the speed", I said, wiping the sweat off my forehead "Wait until you see until we get up to triple digit speeds"

But as we continued on with our water break, we heard a few bangs of what sounded like metal. "Did you hear that?", I asked

"Yeah, let's go check it out", Mikey said, putting his helmet on my bike

I did the same as we both moved towards the fence to get a better look. That's when we heard a female voicing yelling. "Move out, next point, go go go!", she yelled

"What the frick is that?", I asked

"I don't know Sky, but lets move closer", he said, starting to climb the fence

"Hey wait for me!", I called out, quietly

I climbed the fence as we both landed on the ground and we quickly followed the sound of where the yelling was coming from. When we heard more clanking metal, we looked from a storage unit and we saw men going into other storage units and taking out crates and tossing them on the ground as they made glass shattering sounds.

"Who are those guys?", I asked

"The Foot Ninja", Mikey said

"Foot Ninja? Quite the cheesy name if you ask me", I said, crossing my arms

"While it does sounds cheesy, looks can be deceiving for these guys are not cool dudes", he said

"How so?", I asked

"They do nothing but steal and vandalize", he said

I was now understanding what Mikey was talking about, as I saw a few ninjas breaking into another storage unit and going through more of the same crates breaking them with frustration and one was painting a graffiti symbol on the side of the unit.

"Okay now these guys are not cool dudes at all", I said, nodding in agreement "We got to stop them!"

"I will stop them, you need to stay here", he said, looking down at me

"What you are benching me? I am not even injured", I said

"Its too risky Sky, these guys are tough, I will deal with them", he said

"Last time you faced these dingbats you nearly got yourself killed, you think I am going to allow that to happen again? I think not", I said, cocking an eyebrow

"Please Sky, just stay here", he said, sounding serious

I sighed annoyed. "Fine", I said, rolling my eyes defeated "I will stay, but if anyone tries anything I am stepping in"

"Stay behind here, you won't be seen", he said, pushing me back more behind the unit

"Be careful", I said, as I watched him sneak off

I kept a close watch from behind the unit, keeping a low profile like Mikey told me to as I was about to watch the action unfold. Mikey snuck around and then disappeared from my view as I quietly waited for something to happen. I then heard the sounds of yelling and screaming, common sounds you would hear in a fight just about to take place. "I got movement!", a ninja yelled

I gasped and hid back behind the unit thinking it was me that they saw, but they moved away from where I was hiding, and I let out a heavy sigh of relief. Glad that they were not after me. The curiosity in me urged me to follow to investigate and so cautiously I followed close behind. That's when I saw Mikey jump quietly behind a unit. Suddenly a unit was tossed at one of the men, causing me to jump back in fright. "Holy shit!", I said, whispering

The ninjas were then called to a retreat by the female voice and they all ran. I looked around the unit I was hiding behind to see what was happening, but quickly hid once more when the ninjas vehicles started to zoom by me. I hid back in the dark and waited to look back out when the noises faded. I walked out quietly and cautiously to see Mikey was standing boldly on top of the unit watching then ninjas disappear. He looked like a knight in shining armor saving the land from an evil threat and I couldn't help but watch him in wonder and awe. "Wow", I said, breathlessly

I quickly ran over to where he was at as I saw him doing the same symbol I saw the night I saw Mikey, in purple and orange spray paint. "Dude! That was freaking amazing!", I said

"Awwww it was nothing", he said, as he finished doing the symbol

"Nothing?! You kidding me?! That was the most incredible thing I have ever seen!", I said "You being able to lift that on your own and let alone do that without being spotted! You got like the strength of a thousand men!"

"All apart of being the ninja", he said, flexing a muscle leaning against the unit

I then took a closer look at the symbol he made. "Wow this is very cool, very authentic and much creative detail", I said, observing it

"Its our clan symbol", Mikey said

"You guys made this?", I asked

He nodded smiling and I looked back at the art. "Wow, its beautiful, very unique, it has so much character and tells a great story behind all of it", I said, pressing my hand against the dried paint

"Thanks, we try hard to make great art", he said, walking up beside

"Curious to ask, I know this might sound weird, do you think I could use this piece?", I asked

"What for?", he asked

"It could boost up production at the shop, I mean we have been having slow business these past few weeks and we have been struggling to come up with new designs and with this I think this would really draw people's attention", I said

"Well I don't know", he said, sounding a bit unsure

"I will give you credit for it, I am not going to plagiarize someone's work without asking them", I said, shoving his shoulder "And I will give 50/50 profits"

"How much do you think its worth?", he asked, nodding his head towards the symbol

"With this, mmmmmm I would think, with the amount of detail in this, I would say", I said, looking it over "$2000 a piece"

"What?!", he said, dropping his nunchucks and his jaw to the ground

"Yup not lying and trust me, I know the values of a tattoo", I said, nodding

"Dude that's insane! Its worth that much?!", he said, looking at the symbol

"I ain't kidding dude, it's worth that much", I said, shaking my head and crossing my arms "So are you up for it?"

He thought about it for a moment by rubbing his chin looking at the art piece then looked at me. "Deal!", he said

"Cool beans!", I said, excitedly

We both gave each other a high five and body slam laughing. I then took out my phone and I took a picture of the symbol. "This is awesome, this will really boost up production now", I said, putting my phone back in my pocket "I will have to get to work on this right away"

"We might as well get out of here anyways, in case anymore ninjas decide to show up", Mikey said "And I got to get home before my brothers come topside looking for me"

"I'll drive you back, be faster anyways", I said

"I am driving this time!", he said, running off

"Oh I don't think so!", I said, laughing chasing after him

We drove back towards my place as I stopped outside the first alley that was on my block. I turned off my bike as I took of my helmet and Mikey handed me back his. "Well this certainly has been a crazy night", he said

"Yes I agree, one that I could considered absolutely insane", I said, giggling

"Well I hope our symbol will help you guys out at the shop", he said

"I hope it does too, I am going to draw it up tonight and show it to my boss tomorrow morning when I go into my shift and see what he thinks", I said

"Let's hope it gets good vibes", he said "We did put a lot of effort into creating it"

"I'm sure it will", I said, nodding in confidence

"Thanks for letting me come by tonight Sky", he said, with a smile

"Oh of course, no problem", I said, smiling back "And don't let your brothers comments bring you down Mikey, just block it out and keep continuing on with what you do best"

"I'll try", he said, nodding

"Trust me it will work, believe me it does wonders", I said "And if they keep continuing on, don't worry, karma comes around and bites people in the ass when they least expect it"

He snickered at my joke. "Yeah that's true", he said

I smiled. "You get home safe and steer clear of those ninjas", I said

"Hey don't worry about me, I can handle it", he said, doing a pose showing off his muscles

I giggled. "I know you can handle it, I am just saying be careful", I said, giving a smirk "I don't want my friend getting hurt"

"I promise you, I will be careful", he said "Well I should get going"

"Yeah me too, got to rest up for tomorrow, got a full schedule ahead of me", I said, putting on my helmet

"I'll text you when I get home", he said

"Sounds cool, well I will see you around", I said, starting up my bike

"Yeah see you around Angel Cakes", he said, with a bright smile

I couldn't help but laugh. "Nice one, well I will see you around Cutie Pie", I said. smirking

I kicked off my kickstand as I drove down the road heading back home. "Hey that was a good one too!", he called out

"Thanks! Bye!", I called out, looking back waving with my hand

He waved back as I zoomed faster down the road, and looking forward I couldn't help but smile. This guy really is something different and one that I feel like I can trust. All the way back home, I was thinking about him and I didn't know if I was thinking about him as a friend or something else, something more maybe.

Mikey's Pov...  
I quickly made my way up to the rooftops and got up to the top to see Skylar riding her bike farther out into the distance until I saw her make her way down into the garage. "Wow, she is...awesome", I said, to myself "Man not like any girl you would ever meet"

As I turned around to make my way back home, I crashed into something hard as I jumped down from the edge and landed hard on the ground. "Ow! Jeez that hurt!", I said, rubbing my aching head

"Wouldn't hurt as much as if I could give you a beating right now", a tough voice said

I looked up and to my surprise, shock and fear were my brothers standing over me, and believe me they didn't look happy at all with me. "Care to explain your little friend Mikey?", Leo said, stepping forward towards me

"Oh um hey Leo, what's going down bro?", I asked, laughing nervously

He didn't seem to buy my act as I could feel my heart starting to pound in my chest and sweat pour down my face. "We were actually out here trying to find you to apologize for what we said, but it looks like you got some explaining to do", he said, glaring down at me

"Awwww sewer apples", I said, groaning


	6. Chapter 6

Mikey's Pov...  
I can't believe this slipped up. I thought I could of kept it a secret. But I guess luck wasn't on my side. I struggled to keep my balance up on the swiveling chair I was holding myself up on as my brothers were integrating me about Skylar, but I wasn't going to give her up without a fight.

"You have been here for over nine hours Mikey, you might as well cough it up", Raph said "Who is that girl you were with?"

"How long have you known her?", Donnie asked

"And what are you doing with her?", Leo asked

"Not telling you guys nothing!", I said, annoyed

"Well my son, it seems your brothers can't get you to talk", Splinter said, as he walked into the Ha'shi

"I am not telling you guys anything, she is not like what you think she is", I said, grunting as my legs were threatening to give in "She is not a threat! You won't break me! Not this time!"

But apparently I spoke too soon when Splinter threw a pizza on the table in front of me. "Crap", I said, to myself

"Of course, you have tasted the five cheese pizza, and the 99 cheese pizza", Splinter said, as he circled around the table

"I am not falling for that again!", I said, glaring "You can't trick me with a pizza this time!"

"Oh I wouldn't be sure of it", Splinter said "But in recent discovery has shown that chessemongers have speculated that this couldn't have been thought possible. Da Vinci's long lost forgotten work of art. Behold the 100 cheese pizza"

He then flipped open the lid for me to gaze at the pizza. "Oh that's cold dude", I said, struggling

"Busted", Raph said, with a grin crossing his arms

"Shall I list the ingredients of this particular masterpiece?", Splinter asked

"No", I said, shaking my head

"Asiago, taleggio, mozzarella of course and your favorite kind Michelangelo, limburger", Splinter said, taunting me with the slice in front of my face

I struggled to keep a straight face, trying to resist the temptation but the aroma and the taste was just too much for me. "Alright, alright, alright! I was out on patrol and I was getting beaten up by Foot ninjas and this girl named Skylar Richards came and save me but I avoided her the first time and when she got attacked out by the docks, she was almost drowning and I came and saved her. She is not what you think she is, she is a good one, I know it!", I said, rapidly answering to end the torture

"Finally he spills the beans", Raph said, with a smirk

"Oh no, my worst fears have been realized", Splinter said, as he lowered the pizza

"We can take care of this sensei", Leo said "We will make sure she doesn't expose us, we won't be in any danger"

"No, its Skylar Richards who is in danger!", Splinter said, looking up at him "Find the girl, bring her here!"

"But sensei you said to not to meet-", Donnie said

"Find the girl and bring her unharmed", Splinter said, throwing his paws up in the air

"Awwww shell Sky is going to kill me for this", I said, to myself

My body suddenly gave out as I shrieked falling on the chair breaking it into pieces and I groaned in pain, rubbing my sore arm. "Come on Mikey, we are going to pay your little friend a visit", Raph said, yanking me up

Once we got to the location I texted Sky on where to meet me, we waited on the rooftop for her to arrive. I was growing anxious by the second as much I wanted to just run and tell her what was about to happen, Leo kept me at bay. "You sure she is coming?", Leo asked, looking barely behind him towards me

"She is coming", I said "She is on her way right now"

I gulped hard watching the road watching to see if she was walking or on her bike from last night. "Man this is not going to be good, what more could possibly go wrong?", I asked, to myself

Suddenly we heard the sound of alarms and loud heavy footsteps coming our way. Before we could even make a move, we were facing a bunch of Foot Ninjas, that were carrying a bunch of black gym bags, that climbed up on the rooftop we were on. "Nice touch", I said, groaning "Oh well"

"Well nothing like a good fight to kill the waiting time", Raph said, as he pulled out his sai's

"Get them!", Leo yelled, sheathing his swords

I whipped out my nunchucks as I screamed out a battle cry jumping in the air landing in front of the ninjas and began to bring a full on assault.

Sky's Pov...

I came up on my bike riding all the way from work near the end of the block towards the spot where Mikey texted me to meet him at. I didn't know why he wanted to meet me in such a dark part of the block, but I guess it was just because it was more quiet and not a lot of people were out to where he could be seen. I shut off my bike and take off my helmet climbing off, and rest it on the handle bars. I untied my light green hoodie that was around my waist and slipped it over my dark purple shirt I was wearing since it was getting rather cold out. I tightened my plain silk dark blue bandanna around my head and tossed my bag carrying my air tank over my shoulder, then looked around to see if I could find Mikey near by. "Alright buddy, where you hiding?", I asked, looking around in a dark alley and near the shadows of buildings

I then suddenly heard a scream that immediately caught my attention. "What the?", I said

I then saw a man was tossed from a rooftop above me and came falling down near me as it landed on a car crushing it. I shrieked in fright and I looked up and saw a green muscular arm over the ledge and I recognized it immediately. "Mikey!", I said

I pulled the stairway of the outside fire escape and I started to climbed up to the top. I quietly peeked over the ledge to see a battle going on between Mikey and some strange men dressed in black and I gasped surprised when I saw three more turtles like Mikey appeared in front of me as I quickly hid back down. "Woah this is amazing!", I said, to myself

As I tried to climb over to get a better look a sword was knocked out of a turtle in blue out of his hand and it stabbed into the ground barely catching in between my legs. "Okay, not cool at all", I said, behind my body in an awkward position

I grabbed the sword as I heard more yelling and I saw the men had overpowered Mikey and the others knocking them all into a turtle pile on the ground. The men surrounded them as I crouched down low behind some rubbish on the rooftop. "You may have won many battles, but you have lost a war", another man said

"How cheesy does that sound?", I said, rolling my eyes

"You don't want to mess with us freaks, we are dangerous", the leader said

He then pulled a gun out and aimed it at the boys. "Okay that's not cheesy", I said, shaking my head

The boys gulped in fear and I glared in anger and I looked down at my air tank in my backpack. I unzipped it open and I adjusted the regulator to make a hissing noise and it caught the attention of some of them. "What was that?", one asked

"Shut up", the leader said

I smirked and I adjusted it again making a louder sound. "There it is again!", another one said

"Shut up!", the leader said, growing agitated

I cranked up the regulator to where it made a shrieking noise, making a few of the men jump. "Boss something ain't right, let's get out of here", one said

"Shut up I said!", he said, keeping the gun on the turtles

I quietly came walking up as I carried my tank in my hand and the sword in the other as Mikey looked over and looked at me surprised. I set my tank down on the ground right behind the men. "We are tried of you freaks messing on our turf and its about time someone got rid of you for good", one said, as others aimed swords at them, while he held the gun looking about they were ready to finish them off

"Let them go!", I yelled

The men quickly shot around looking at me. "Turtles, run!", I yelled

They yelled as they quickly got out of the way and I spun the sword I found in my hand. "Hang ten dudes!", I said

I quickly sliced down the sword on my air tank in the regulator on my air tank like I did the last encounter I had with them. The tank build up air pressure and it started to hiss loudly as it then sprayed smoke and it rocketed towards the others. "Turtles duck!", I called out

"Shoot!", one yelled

"Yikes!", one yelled, trying to duck out of the way

"Incoming!", another yelled

The tank crashed into a man as it went on a wild chase, hissing loudly and knocking out each man one at a time with the tanks high speeds and strength. "Skylar!", Mikey called out

"Mikey!", I yelled through the smoke

"Are you there?!", he called out

"I am over here! Hold on I'm coming!", I yelled out

I ran through the smoke unable to see where I was going as the air tank was still going strong. I thought in the smoke I saw Mikey's shadow from the light of the moon and I quickly went running towards it, but I was suddenly tackled and I screamed as I saw one of the men was overpowering me trying to get his hands on my throat. I tried to kick him off of me but he was just too heavy. "Help!", I yelled "Help!"

Suddenly someone had tackled the man off of me as I coughed trying to regain my breath as I gasped seeing a struggle that broke out quickly into a fight. As soon as the smoke cleared up from my air tank it was Mikey fighting against a well built man. Each tried to over power one of another, but were unsuccessful. I then heard more noises and I looked over and I saw the other turtles were fighting against the remaining men that weren't knocked out from the air tank explosion with ease. Mikey tried to pull a punch towards the man he was fighting but was quick to get his arm twisted behind him and kicked to the ground, then having the man tackle him again this time pulled a large butcher knife and held it under his jaw right at his throat.

"Woah Mikey hold on!", the blue turtle called out

He and the others tried to run towards the two and I quickly hid back behind an air conditioner to get out of view. I looked back to see the man was pressing the knife closer into Mikey's neck. "Don't any of you move!", he yelled out

They suddenly stopped as Mikey struggled to get away, but it seemed pointless. "Take one step and he is threw", he said

I quietly gasped and I quickly pulled myself starting to panic that my friend was going to be killed right in front of me and I struggled on what to do, seeing I couldn't just go in all willy nilly.

"Oh god! What do I do?", I asked, myself

I looked around frantically and I looked beside me to see a silver gun was beside my leg. I quickly grabbed it and opened it to see it was full of ammunition and I looked back to see the man was forcing the knife closer towards Mikey and that just sparked a fire in me. "Oh you motherfucker, no one messes with my friend", I said, quietly

I quietly got up and held the gun in my hand and I hid in the darkness, waiting for the opportunity. "Get away from our little brother!", the red turtle said

"Anyone makes a move and I will make him turtle sushi!", he said, as Mikey struggled whimpering

"If you so much as pick a scale off of him, you will being spitting your teeth out through your forehead!", I said, coming out and aiming the gun

The man quickly noticed me and he backed himself and Mikey up near the ledge, still having the knife to his throat. The other turtles that were standing by looked at me shocked to seeing my bravery against the situation. "Woah, its her", the purple one said

"Sky!", Mikey said

"It's okay Mikey, its going to be alright", I said, calmly "Just stay calm"

"Don't come anywhere near us!", the man threatened

"You don't need to do this", I said, trying to negotiate "We can walk away from this"

"No, we can't", he said

"I am not backing down from this, he doesn't deserve it", I said "I am not going to let you hurt my friend"

He then did a sudden attack gripping Mikey by the throat and pressing the knife to where it could of easily broken skin as I gasped loading the gun to shoot. I could hear the other turtles make terrified noises.

"Drop him! Now!", I yelled

"Or what?", he asked, in an intimidating voice

"I will shoot you!", I said, aiming the gun

"You think you can shoot that? You might as well give up", he said

"Skylar!", Mikey said, looking at me panicked, as the ninja pressed the knife closer to his throat

"Looks can be deceiving and now I am not going to ask again, get away from the turtle and no one gets hurt", I said "Don't make me to do this!"

He stood there not moving as I then made a shot into the ceiling, making Mikey shake underneath the ninjas grip as he struggled to get away scared from the shot. "I don't know if you are toned deaf or not, but I think I made myself perfectly clear", I said "Let him go now!"

He didn't move an inch and I was about to pull the trigger again as I saw Mikey looking more terrified. But it seems the message had sunk in as he slowly started to move off of Mikey, but I kept the gun up not knowing what he could be planning as Mikey crawled away to a safe distance. "Now I would recommend getting out here before the cops show up and haul your ass to jail", I said

He looked like he was about to take off, with picking up his sword from the ground. I looked away for just the slightest moment towards Mikey to make sure he was okay, he looked at me with horror. "Sky!", he yelled

I saw a shadow with a sword rose up in the air and I quickly reacted by ducking and spinning low to the ground, kicking the man in the ankles and I quickly rose back up as he lost the grip on the sword and I grabbed him by the throat. I quickly pushed him up against the wall as I glared at him coldly.

"Listen you asshole, don't let me catch you threatening my friend while I am around here, you understand that?", I said

He just blinked at me. "Now beat it!", I said, throwing him hard to the ground by moving him behind me

He landed hard as I took a step forward making sure he wouldn't pull any stunts on me as I glared, showing that I mean business. He took off running as he jumped over the ceiling. I let out a heavy breath as my attention turned back to Mikey as he laid shaken against the ledge of the rooftop. I gasped softly and I quickly threw the gun away and ran over to him. "Mikey!", I called out

"Skylar!", he said, sounding panicked

"Oh my god!", I said, sliding to my knees "Are you okay?"

He nodded quickly and we quickly hugged each other tight, both of us shocked by what just occurred. "Oh my god, that scared the heck out of me!", I said "Holy shit!"

"Get away from him!", someone yelled

I then felt a hard yank on my hoodie, pulling me up in the air as I screamed. "Now I'm even more scared!", I said

"Let go of her!", Mikey yelled, throwing punch beside me

The grip on my hoodie released as I started to fall to the ground, but Mikey's arm wrapped around me pulling me to him quickly as he churred glaring at someone. I then gasped softly as I saw a much bigger turtle in front of us, that could of easily done damage to us both with size alone with a red do rag of a bandanna with his fists clenched. "Dude! Seriously?!", Mikey said

"What? She could be an enemy Mikey and you are defending her", he said

"Sure dude I hang out with someone who could possibly kill me, she is my friend", Mikey said, glaring

"Friends? You two are a bit of an odd couple", he said, as Mikey set me down gently in front of him

"Opposites do attract you know", I said, placing my hands on my hips

"I see Mikey, you can't follow orders of staying hidden and you go off and befriend someone who is putting us all at risk", he said, looking at me

"Well I think I might of came at a bad timing, so I think I better go", I said, backing up a bit

"Please, we were told to come find you by our master", the red one said, jumping down in front of me

"Awww yeah nice try boulder butt", I said, cocking him an eyebrow

"You calling me a liar?", he said, getting up in my face

"You said it, I didn't", I said, crossing my arms

"You were thinking it", he said, glaring a bit more

"I don't like this guy, he reads minds", I said, looking to my side to Mikey, holding my hand up to hide my mouth

"Enough, back off Raph!", the blue turtle said, as he stepped forward

"What? She started it", he said, walking off

"Yeah right", I said, scoffing crossing my arms

"Mam, hello, I apologize", he said, looking at me "But I think we weren't properly introduced, I am Leonardo, and this is Raphael, Donatello and you have already met Michelangelo"

"Who are you?", I asked

"Sky its cool, they are my brothers", Mikey said, with a smile getting in front of them

"Oh", I said, surprised "Well I can see the family resemblance, are you guys like superheroes of some kind?"

"Well miss, we are ninjas", Leo said, with a slight bow

"We are mutants", Raph said, with a gruff voice

"Well technically we are turtles", Donnie said

"She already knows that wise guy", Raph said, shoving him in the shoulder

"And we are teenagers, but we can still have adult conversations", Mikey said, piping up

I had to bite the inside of my cheek in order to keep myself from laughing out loud. "So you guys are teenage mutant ninja turtles?", I asked

"Well now when you put it that way it sounds about right", Donnie said, nodding in agreement

"And I know you must be freaking out right now, you getting into a fight, having your life at risk and seeing giant creatures that you wouldn't imagine possible", Leo said "Must be very strange isn't it?"

"Hardly, its not the first time", I said, shaking my head

He then looked at me surprised. "Wow, you really do get around", he said

"I know much about the streets", I said, nodding

"See she is looking at us like we are freaks", Raph said, looking at me

"That's what you think", I said, giving him an annoyed look "Cause that's not what I am thinking"

"You messing with me little girl?", he said, walking quick to me

"Raph, lay off her", Leo said, putting his arm out in front of him to stop him "Sensei wants us to bring her back unharmed and that's how we intend to do it"

He scoffed annoyed before pushing his arm away and walking off. "Bring me back where?", I asked

"We have someone who wants to meet you", Leo said

"And who might that be?", I asked

I then saw out of the corner of my eye, seeing a huge bulking shadow with a sack in his hand come up behind, I didn't phase or move a muscle, instead I just sighed. "If you guys are going to put a sack on my head and lead me to your hide out, you might as well forget it", I said, seeing the shadow behind me "I know you live in the sewers"

Raph stopped just as he was about to do it as the others looked at me with shock. "Wait how do you know that?", Leo asked

"Call it a lucky guess", I said

Leo shook his head getting over it, as he appeared serious again. "Well, alright then", Leo said "Follow us"

Donnie followed close behind before Raph grunted following the two of them, then Mikey came up to me. "Thanks for not telling", he said, whispering

"Hey what are friends for? Besides I didn't want you to get a whole big lecture anyways of where your hideout was", I said, with a smile

"Hurry up you two!", Leo called out, in front of us

"Do I have a choice in this?", I asked

"Yeah this or possibly getting an earful from Raph again", Mikey said, pointing with his thumb beside him towards Raph

"Yeah I will go along quietly", I said, quickly answering

"Wise choice", he said, nodding in agreement "Come on"

We followed the others until we reached the manhole cover in the alley below. We walked down a dark tunnel before reaching a lit up hole in the wall and that's when we came upon what looked like a lost forgotten underground amusement park. "Welcome to our Fortress of Solitude, our Hogwarts, our Xavier Academy", Mikey said, trying to sound all cool, motioning his home

I giggled. "Smashing, but hey nice place, very cool", I said, looking around

We then stopped as I saw Leo move on forward and knelt down on his knees. "She is here sensei", Leo said

"Move out of the way my sons, so I can see", an elder voice said

The boys obeyed moving slowly out of the way till I came face to face with a rat. My breath had caught in my throat as a vague memory of my childhood past came hurdling back to me, that I have seen this rat before. "How it is an honor to be in your presence again Miss Richards", he said, with a gentle voice

I then took a step forward. "Splinter?", I asked, amazed

"She knows his name?", Don asked

"Did one of you blabbed that off to her?", Leo asked, sounding irritated

"Wasn't me for sure", Raph said

"Maybe she is a telepath", Mikey said, excitedly

"Come closer my dear", Splinter said

I came slowly walking up to him as I was in complete shock. Seeing an old friend from my childhood in front of me again, I thought I was in a dream and I wasn't waking up. But as I got closer the image didn't seem to fade like as if you were waking up, it was still there. "I can't believe it, its you", I said, stopping just in front of me

He gave me a warm welcoming smile. Like the same one he did when we first met so many years ago, like a proud father. "It's been a long time", Splinter said

"It sure has been, old friend", I said, nodding "I always kept wondering when I would see you again"

"Wait, you two know each other?", Donnie asked, surprised

"Yes, we do, we did know each other back in the years", Splinter said, looking over at him before returning his attention back to me

He then stepped forward a bit. "You always had those bright beautiful eyes", he said

"You are the father to my friend?", I asked

"I am, as well to the others too", he said, gesturing his arm out before bringing it back behind him

I looked back to see all four of the turtles standing side by side before looking back at Splinter. "You never told me you had sons", I said

"I wanted to wait for the right time to tell you, before the event happened", he said

"Oh, right, that", I said, frowning "How I wish it didn't happen, for I would of seen you much"

"Before what happened?", Mikey asked

"Come my students, let me tell you about our story", Splinter said, kneeling before me

The boys quickly joined us by sitting beside Splinter and I kneeling, but with the exception of Mikey sitting close to me. "You see my sons, Miss Richards and I had encounter many years ago. When we were still building upon our old lair, I had left to scavenge for supplies after you went to sleep. I had gone top sided when I was unable to find much needed on the levels in the sewers. I remember trying to bring back the supplies I was able to find, but that's when I was attacked. There was the sound of evil laughter, chains whipping and heavy footsteps. I assumed they didn't know I was a rat at the time as they were not resisting on not backing away. I ran to avoid conflict but they were resilient and followed me. I was terrified of what they would do and I had became trapped when debris had fallen on me when I crashed into the end of the alley. I wasn't able to escape until that's when you appeared, Skylar"

 _A little girl was sitting alone on her fire escape cuddling with her teddy bear as she sat on her windowsill, watching the glowing moon quietly when she suddenly heard a crash down three levels below. She got up and quietly walked to the edge to see someone was on the ground and junk was over them, crashing them. She gasped as she set her bear down on the window and she unhooked the latch that let the metal ladder go sliding down till it hit the ground. Quickly she climbed down and jumped close to the bottom landing on the ground nearly slipping on her pink fuzzy slippers. She ran to the rat and immediately turned and saw shadows were coming near them fast and she started to push the fallen debris off the rat._

 _"Hold on, I will help you!", she said, pushing off a piece of wood_

 _The little girl struggled to get the remaining debris off as the men started to get closer and closer. She got almost everything off until she was having trouble removing a heavy crate. "Its too heavy!", she said_

 _"You must try young one, give it all the strength you have in your spirit", Splinter said, looking up at her_

 _With those words and seeing the men getting closer she grunted being able to push the crate off to where it crashed down into pieces beside him. Splinter struggled to get to his feet as the little girl grabbed him by his robe sleeve._

 _"Come on! Quickly!", she said_

 _Splinter was quick to follow the little girl as they both climbed up the fire escape and jumped immediately into the open window. She shut the window closed, locking it and pulling the curtains quickly together as they both panted for breath. After a few moments she looked at the rat._

 _"Are they gone?", she asked_

 _"Wait here child", he said, pushing her gently behind him_

 _Splinter barely moved part of the curtain to the side to get a peek what was going on outside as he could see the Foot Ninjas searching the alley below desperately trying to find him. Soon they had given up in frustration and moved on from the alley. "Did they leave?", the little girl asked again_

 _"Yes, we no longer need to worry, for they have gone", Splinter said_

 _"Are you okay?", she asked_

 _Splinter had groaned a little when he tried to move his leg and held it with both paws. "I think I might of injured my leg", he said_

 _"Climb on my bed, I will go get the first aid kit", she said, quickly running to the door_

 _She peered out making sure no one was up and about and quickly disappeared as Splinter cautiously went to her bed and sat down. She came back a few moments later with a first aid kit in her hands as she climbed on the bed beside him. "Here I will have that better for you, I saw how the nurses did it when I was in the hospital", she said_

 _The rat seemed quite surprised as he watched the girl bandage his leg, as if she was a professional and had tightened it with a metal clip to make sure it stayed in place. "I hope this will help", she said_

 _"I think it just might", he said, moving his leg , feeling the pain subsiding "Yes, I believe that this will help it greatly"_

 _"Are you hurt anywhere else?", she asked_

 _"No my dear, I am fine", he said_

 _"Good", she said, with a smile_

 _"What is your name little one?", he asked_

 _"My name is Skylar, Skylar Richards, but you can call me Sky if you want to", she said_

 _"Skylar, a lovely name for a lovely girl like you", he said, with a smile "My name is Splinter"_

 _"Are you a rat?", she asked, looking at him curiously_

 _"Yes, I am a rat", he said "But don't fret child, I do not intend to hurt you"_

 _"Oh I am not scared of you", she said, shaking her head_

 _"You are not?", he asked, in a surprised manner_

 _"No, I am not scared, why would I be scared?", she asked_

 _"Some people do find my appearance rather frightening my dear and that's why I was worried that I might scare you", he said_

 _"But you don't Splinter, not to me you don't. You are not scary either, you are a nice rat", she said, with a smile "I like rats"_

 _"Tell me Skylar, how did you hear me from all the way up here?", he asked_

 _"I was sitting outside, I couldn't sleep, mama was yelling at me and I wanted to get some fresh air", she said "I heard the noises and that's_ _when I saw you got trapped"_

 _"Why did you help me?", he asked, curiously_

 _"You needed help, you were stuck and you looked really scared", she said "I saw the men chasing you and I knew that they were not friendly and I didn't want them to hurt you"_

 _He couldn't help but smile at the sweet child. "I thank you Skylar for helping me and with my injury", he said_

 _"I learned how to do it while watching a nurse help a boy with a broken leg while I was getting my therapy", she said_

 _"Your therapy?", Splinter asked, curiously_

 _"Uh-huh, I have um leuki eme", she said, struggling to say the word "Leukie mame"_

 _He gasped silently to himself as he knew what the word was she was struggling to say. "Leukemia?", Splinter asked "Child, is this true? You do have cancer?"_

 _"Yes, I have leukemia", she said, nodding "I have cancer, I got it a few months ago and I have to get therapy in my blood, they poke_ _needles into me and it hurts"_

 _Splinter didn't reply as he then watched Skylar taking off her bandanna that was wrapped around her head as she slid it off to reveal her small bald head. "I also lost my hair, it fell out and I can't grow it back", she said "Why did I get this?"_

 _Splinter sat there for what felt like several minutes kneeling in front of her, his hands on his knees. After what felt like ages, he sighed and his voice was filled with sorrow. "You poor child", he said_

 _He then noticed her shivering and her lip quivering. "I want my daddy to come home", she said, sniffling_

 _"Where is your father?", he asked_

 _"He left and mommy says he isn't coming back and says its my fault", she said, as a few tears came down her cheeks "I tried to say sorry but she wouldn't listen to me"_

 _Splinter felt his heart being crushed as he watched her cry in front of him and his own fatherly instincts took action as if he was dealing with one of his sons. He gently pulls the girl into his arms as she cried into his robe for a hug and he could feel her sadness and pain wash over him. "I didn't mean to", she said, crying_

 _"Skylar, look at me", he said, putting his paw gently under her chin to make her look at him "There is nothing for you to be sorry about, for you are just a child and I can see that you had no intention of this event to occur. Things do happen even for uncertain reasons and there was nothing you could of done to avoid getting this cancer. You are not at fault at this and your mother has no right to blame such as this on you"_

 _"I don't know why I got cancer, I am scared", she said, whimpering "I heard people die of cancer and I don't want to die Splinter"_

 _He sat there speechless by what he heard and what he has seen from this little girl. He had a feeling that her situation was a bad one and knew that she was in a rather difficult one as well. He never had any experience with this type of situation, but he could tell that this was worse than what Skylar was letting on. Having to have cancer at this young age and having a family splitting apart and blaming the effects on the child was the most unforgivable things he could of heard of. Any kind of blame of an event on an innocent child was disgusting and horrible._

 _Skylar hung her head low as she sniffled using her bandanna to wipe away her tears. She was sitting still and her whole body was still. Splinter slowly reached over being careful not to scare her and his paw connected with her hand and was quickly followed by his other paw, holding it with care. "Skylar, listen to me", he said, speaking to her gently "I see deep in your heart, you are a fighter and I know that you will not be dying anytime soon, you can not let this bring you down. You have a whole life ahead of you and you should not dread with what has been given to you now. Things do change for the better, not everything lasts forever. I see you do have great potential in you and your future will be bright and you will become the best person you can be"_

 _"Even if I have cancer?", she asked, hopefully_

 _"Even if you have cancer or any other disease, you will succeed", he said_

 _"You mean it?", she asked, with a smile growing on her face_

 _"I would not have told you otherwise if I didn't", he said_

 _Skylar immediately threw herself around the rat hugging him tight to her. He chuckled and he gently hugged her back. She was smiling so widely it looked liked her face could of burst. Splinter thought to himself that she is like his youngest son, Michelangelo. They both looked better with smiles on their faces. "Thank you Splinter", she said, with a smile_

 _"Of course my dear", he said, gently stroking her back_

 _He then looked over at the clock on her nightstand to see it was nearly midnight. "It is late dear one, you must get some rest", he said_

 _As if on cue, Skylar yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Okay", she said, nodding tiredly_

 _Splinter carefully picked up the little girl and laid her on her bed as he got up. He tucked her in with her blanket to make sure she was snug and warm and gave her head a gentle rub. "Splinter?", she said_

 _"Mmmmm?", he asked_

 _"Will I see you again?", she asked_

 _"Yes, you will child, now you need to sleep", he said_

 _She nodded and her green eyes closed as she fell asleep. Splinter tucked in her teddy bear beside her and was about to leave the child to sleep. But he felt that he should give her something in return for her help. He then remembered he had found something in the sewers. He pulled from his robe a small golden necklace with a little white diamond locket on the chain and he quietly walked back towards Skylar and placed the necklace on her nightstand to where she could see it when she wakes up. "Sweet dreams shugo tenshi", he said, quietly "And thank you"_

 _He then quietly slipped out the window shutting it closed as he watched her sleep soundly, knowing it wouldn't be long before he would see her again._ "I never thought I would meet a human that had such compassion and understanding of my existence and let alone helped me in a time of need", Splinter said "But I thank you still to this day Skylar"

"Splinter I was just a little girl back then", I said "I barely knew what I was doing"

"And yet you helped me for others would of have not", he said "For I would of not known what those men could of done to me and what the outcome could of become and how it would effect me and my sons"

"Wait a minute dad", Leo said, interrupting "All this time you said you were saved by a guardian angel, a shugo tenshi, you were talking about her?"

"That's right, Skylar is my shugo tenshi", he said, motioning towards me

"Woah", I said, softly

Donnie put on his goggles zooming in on me and Leo stepped forward from his spot, taking in a deep breath. He bowed at the waist towards me, with his brothers following in suit. Well except for Raph who just stood there. "I can't believe you are the shugo tenshi", Mikey said, looking up at me slightly excitedly

"I had no idea I was", I said, smiling and giggling a little

I then stood up from my spot and stood in front of the brothers and I bowed slightly in return with respect. "You may stand", I said

They slowly stood up until I looked back towards Splinter. "Why did you bring me here?", I asked

"To find out who you told of our existence", he said

"I haven't told anyone", I said "I made a promise to myself long ago, that I wouldn't expose you to anyone, cause I knew if I did I would lose a friend and I wasn't going to lose the only friend I had"

"Are you telling the truth Skylar?", he asked, in a serious tone

"Hai", I said, nodding my head quickly

I had learned a bit of Japanese in my younger days and I thought it would be wise to use it now. He gave me a serious look as I could feel his eyes dig deep into my soul as I waited for his answer. I waited what seemed like forever before he let out a quiet breath and nodded. "I believe you", he said "Tell me, how has life treated you since our last encounter?"

"I am afraid not well Splinter", I said, sitting back down "Much has happened"

"Please would you care to share?", he asked, gesturing his paw to me

I sighed deep before pushing my bandanna tails behind my shoulder. "Well for one the whole moving after dad left us had happened", I said "Been still neglected by mom all the years following and I know you are not going to like hearing this but...I ran away from home when I was fifteen"

He inhaled sharply as well as the boys. "You ran away from your home?", he asked, in disbelief

"I couldn't take it anymore Splinter", I said "The fighting was getting out of control and one of us had to back down, and I knew my mother wouldn't have, so I left"

"Where did you go?", he asked

"Nowhere I guess", I said "Stayed on the streets for a few nights till I thought of a plan of what I needed to do in order to survive on my own"

"Why didn't you stay with friends or other family Sky?", Leo asked

"I didn't have friends back then, no one understood me not for what I had, and family, they could of cared less about me", I said, shaking my head

"You must of had someone who cared about you Skylar", Donnie said

"You think so? Try having your dad leave you after hearing that his child has leukemia and having your own mother blame her for everything that occurred and leaving her to take care of herself for seven years when she needed love, comfort and support. I don't think that sounds like they cared about me", I said

He gulped a bit quietly. "Dear Skylar, I see that a much difficult path has been given to you", Splinter said

"I know, I don't know why, but there is no sense to finding out the reason to it", I said "You have no idea how many times I wished I could of seen you again"

"You don't have to worry anymore, we are here now, and we will not separate again", Splinter said

"I do sure hope so", I said, nodding

"You have leukemia Skylar?", Donnie asked, surprised

"Yes I do, much to my dismay, in August of 2006 when I was eight years old, I was diagnosed with stage two leukemia", I said

He covered his mouth with his hand, looking at me stunned. He probably never heard such of a case before. "And you still have it?", he asked "For this long?"

"Unfortunately yes", I said, nodding "Ten years and still going on"

"Don't you get therapy?", he asked

"I do, but it doesn't seem to be doing much wonders for me", I said, shrugging

"Question, what exactly is leukemia?", Mikey asked, looking confused "What does that mean?"

"It's cancer Mikey, its a specific kind of cancer that is attacking Skylar's bones and bloodstream and its deteriorating her body from the inside out", Donnie said "Isn't that right Skylar?"

"Yes", I said, nodding

"But it can be cured right? Can she get better?", Mikey asked, sounding a bit scared

"Under some circumstances it can, but others not so much", he said, shaking his head "This can be fatal for her"

Mikey looked like he had the air he was breathing taken away from him as a look of fright came to his face. "No, no, no this can't happen", he said, shaking his head in denial "Not to her"

"Mikey?", I said

"I-I can't", he said, quickly getting up and running from his spot

"Mikey!", I called out

"Mikey wait!", Leo called out

But he ignored our pleas and I quickly got up from my spot. "I am going after him", I said "You guys wait here"

I started to run chasing after Mikey through his home, trying to catch up to him. "Mikey wait!", I called out

He continued to run as he jumped over a turnstile and I quickly ran through it, and I kept continuing to run after him through the dark tunnels of the sewers barely trying not to slip on the wet concrete floor. "Mikey please stop!", I called out

But he still ignored me as I chased him around the corner, and I was panting trying to catch up but he had the upper hand. Luckily to my relief he had stopped when we reached the end of a corner and I skid to a halt to catch my breath. When I was able to, Mikey had his shell facing me, his body looked as stiff as a board, I cautiously walked up to him. "Mikey I-", I said

He then whipped around suddenly causing me to flinch back. "You have cancer?! That can you kill you?!", he said, with tears in his eyes that were full of anger and sadness "Why didn't you say anything to me?!"

"I did, I told you on the night we met I have leukemia", I said "I thought you knew"

"I didn't! I don't know about those kinds of things!", he said, as tears ran down his face "You are going to die?"

"Don't see it that way, I am battling this every single day", I said "I am fighting to stay alive"

He looked away from me as he cried silently. "I am not giving up Mikey, not after everything you have done for me", I said

"What if its not enough? What if this does kill you?", he asked

"I don't know what you do will be enough or not, but I am not going to give up, you made me stronger, more than I have been in so long", I said

He looked towards me as I quickly rushed over to him as I hugged him to me and he hugged me back in a tight embrace, with his face buried into my shoulder. "Please don't cry Mikey", I said "It pains me to see you like this"

"I don't want you to die, you are my friend", he said

"We can get pass this, we can fight it, you got to have faith in it", I said "Faith that I can beat this and I can be cured"

He stood there still in my grasp before he pulled away looking at me, before rubbing his face dry with his hand. "Then I will be by your side every step of the way", he said

"I know you will", I said

I then placed my hands on his shoulders. "I want you to know, that I care about you, and I will never hurt you, I promise", I said

He nodded silently and we both pulled each other into a tight hug, fearing as if we were going to be pulled apart, never to see each other again. I knew there was a long road ahead of us, one with many obstacles and challenges to face in order to get through this battle to reach the end. I know its not going to be an easy one, but I knew that with our strong friendship that Mikey and I have, we can possibly make this work.


	7. Chapter 7

Sky's Pov...  
It felt like it was only a second before I woke up again, but I didn't open my eyes. I felt like I was surrounded what felt like giant soft fluffy arms surrounding me, not only just around my arms, but around my legs too. I tried to move, but it was just too comfy to move a muscle. I could sense my mind was going back to sleep just right before I felt myself sinking in and slipping down sliding on my left side till I rolled up on to my back. "Hey wakey wakey eggs and bakey", a funny voice said

I giggled a little and I rubbed my eyes open with my hand. I blinked my eyes open a few times as I shifted my arms out till they were in front of me. I stretched out before collapsing in bed. I looked over to see Mikey with the usual bright smile on his face that I see. "Morning sunshine", he said

"Wait what time is it?", I asked

"Its nine in the morning Sky, you sure slept in quite awhile", he said

I then gasped feeling like I just hit a brick wall when I looked around to see I wasn't in my room in my apartment. My heart began to race and my stomach turn into knots.

"Oh nuts! My pets! They need to be fed! I totally spaced out!", I said, quickly kicking off the covers trying to get up

"Easy Sky, easy, wait", Mikey said, stopping me by putting his hands on my shoulders

"I have to go!", I said, eagerly

"Everything is fine, you don't need to worry about it", he said, with a smile

"What?", I asked, confused

"I went to your apartment this morning and I took care of everything, you don't have to worry about nothing", he said "All of them got fed, got some play time and cleaned up their enclosures"

"Wait how did you even get in?", I asked

"A ninja never reveals his secrets", he said, in a mimicking tone

"That is what a magician says you knucklehead", I said, smirk "But you seriously took care of everything? Pellets for Iggy and Lola? Kale for Usagi? Flakes for my fish? Raspberries and nuts for Skittles? And a can of Beveno cat food for Kisa?"

"Check, check, check, check, check and check", he said, with a nod each time

I let out a heavy sigh of relief as I crashed back down in bed. "Awwww Mikey, you didn't have to do that, you could of just dumped cold water on me and made me go do it", I said, with a smile

"Nah don't worry about it, you looked too precious to wake up when you were asleep", he said, with a smile

I blushed slightly pink in my cheeks as I giggled. "I am sorry I fell asleep here, I was just so tired from work and the fight and everything", I said "I hope I didn't cause no one a restless night of sleep"

"Nah its all good", he said "I just slept on my bean bag, I do it on occasions when playing video games"

"By the way, super comfy body pillow, slept like a baby", I said, snuggling against it

"I know right! Soon as I snuggle with it, I am out like a light", he said

"Dude I need to get myself one of these, I can get used to sleeping like this", I said, with a smile

He chuckled. "Rise and shine, we got breakfast being made in a little bit", he said

"Mmmmmm yum I could use a little something", I said, giving my stomach a smack

"Definitely me too, I'll be right back", he said, getting up and giving my head a rub before leaving

I smiled and giggled a little. I then slid out of bed and I looked to see my bag that carried my tank the night before right beside the bed. I unzipped it to see I had a pair of sweats that I had decided to put in my bag in case I wanted to go on a run.

"Thank goodness I had an extra pair of clothes in here", I said, taking out my outfit

I got out of my old clothes and I slipped on a black shirt with the Susan B pink ribbon for breast cancer and a message in pink letters saying "Fight Like a Girl" and I got into slim black yoga pants that pooled at the ankles. I slid off my blue bandanna and replaced it with a black, white, and dark pink zig zag one, letting the tails hang behind my back. I walked out of the bedroom and I could hear already hip hop music playing from stereo speakers all around the lair and I heard the sound of whipping going through the air. "What the?", I said, looking up

To my absolute surprise it was Mikey riding on top of a skateboard in the air with rockets attached at the end! "Woah! Mikey! That is freaking awesome!", I called out

"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!", he said, doing a flip in the air

He then came doing a sharp turn down towards my left kicking his board and making it spin a few 360 turns before landing back on top, coming straight towards me. "Your coffee little lady", he said, handing me a hot steaming mug

"Awww you big green sweetie", I said, smiling and taking a sip "Mmmmmm you even got my favorite flavor"

"Saw it at your place this morning, figured you would want to some", he said, doing a loop

"You read my mind my friend", I said, giggling

Mikey flew off doing more tricks on his board as I enjoyed my morning cup. As I walked around getting to know the place better, it seemed like I was more in a hang out area then an actual home. But hey I am not complaining, its different and its really cool, makes you want to stay. As I passed a desk with a bunch of computer screens I came to a fast stream water slide. "Wow that would be fun to go down", I said, to myself

"Ahh its good to see you up in about", someone said

"Who said that?", I asked, looking around

"Over here young one", a wise voice said

I looked over and I saw Splinter in an odd position balancing only on one claw on his paw and the tip of his tail. "Oh Splinter I didn't see you there", I said, walking over "I thought I was looking at something else"

He chuckled slightly. "No, I am just doing my meditation", he said, pushing up on his claw and balancing himself up till he was on a tail

"Very interesting", I said, with a nod "Good morning Splinter"

"How are you this morning my dear?", Splinter asked

"Oh not too bad thank you, I don't quite remembering falling asleep", I said

He chuckled. "Yes, you had passed out when you and the others were watching the movie marathon last night", he said

"Oh right! It was a rather long marathon", I said, remembering last night "Watching all the those Jason Voorhees movies can really tire you out"

"You had fallen asleep on the couch and with the incident that occurred last night, we considered letting you stay the night to make sure that you were not going to be harms way", he said

"Thank you, I really appreciate this", I said, smiling

"You are our guest and our friend Miss Richards, you are welcomed here anytime you desire", Splinter said, bowing his head slightly

I smiled softly towards him. "Guys breakfast is almost ready!", Mikey called out, making my head turn towards the direction of his voice

"I better see how he is holding up", I said, looking back at Splinter

"Alright my dear, I will join you in a moment", Splinter said, with a nod

I walked off finishing up my last bit of coffee as I walked into the kitchen to see Mikey moving around by the stove doing random things such as stirring, flipping and moving a pan on the stove top. "Wow you seem to be very busy", I said, leaning against the counter

"Yeah everyone likes something different in the morning", he said

I giggled. "Well I can see that from the amount of things you got going", I said

"Speaking of that, what do you want?", he asked

"What?", I asked, confused

"What can I make you? You name it", he said

"Mmmmmmm I don't know really, never had anyone make me something in a very long time", I said, shrugging "Honestly, I am not so sure"

"Say no more!", he said, with a smile

He then went around the island in the kitchen and skid to a halt in front of the pantry grabbing something off a shelf. I watched him curiously as I sat down at the dinning table, he took the box in his hand ripping the top off of it and pouring it into a little bowl and he poured some hot water into it and began to stir it up quickly. He then took an apple out of the fruit basket on the counter beside the stove and he tossed it up in the air and threw up two ninja stars slicing the apple into slices as they landed perfectly in the bowl. He then slid it up on his hand till it slid all the way around his shoulders and down his other arm and the bowl landed in front of me. "Oatmeal a la que", he said, in a funny French voice

"Mmmmmm looks good", I said, taking my spoon and taking a bite

I smiled happily as I swallowed it whole. "Yum apple cinnamon one of favorites", I said, looking up at him

"Eat up madame", he said, still doing the accent as he poured me a glass of orange juice

"Morning Sky", a voice said

I looked up and I saw Leo, Donnie and Raph had all entered in the kitchen. As soon as I saw them Leo and Donnie gave me a warm smile, but Raph just kept that gruff looking face like he did on the night before. When he tried to look at me I slightly looked away not wanting to get into a dispute this early in the morning. "Morning guys", I said, with a smile turning back to Leo and Donnie

"Hey you doing okay?", Leo asked "Feeling alright?"

"Yeah, still kind of shaken up by the whole ordeal, but I will get over it", I said, nodding

"Good to hear you are doing alright, you seemed pretty tense last night", Donnie said

"I know, I am sorry for my harsh behavior last night, I was just pissed off at the guy who nearly tried to kill you all and its been a long time I have actually talked about family", I said

"It's okay, we have had worse, and yeah its not easy to talk about a troubled past, especially having to go through it at a young age", Leo said

"You know that was a pretty powerful air tank you had Skylar", Donnie said

"Yeah it was highly concentrated oxygen that's why it exploded so much", I said "It was even more violent than the last time I did it"

"What do you mean the last time?", Leo asked

"Well when I first encountered Mikey, I saw him getting beaten up by thugs and I didn't know how to help and I have seen air tanks explode before on the internet and I thought maybe I could give it a shot", I said "Turned out to be a hero that night"

"It sure was", Mikey said, sitting beside me "I ended up repaying the debt when I found her again"

"Found me? He did more than that, he saved my life", I said

"He did?", Leo asked, curiously

"From nearly drowning out in the ocean", I said

"You nearly drowned out in the ocean?!", Leo asked, looking shocked

"I was out on the boardwalk and some guy was drunk came near me and he tried to rape me", I said "I used some pepper spray that I had on me to try to escape, but it wasn't enough and he pushed me over the edge. I got caught in the kelp and I hit my head hard trying to swim up to the surface and nearly drowned"

"That's when I found Skylar again, and that's basically when we started hanging out together", Mikey said "I knew she could be trusted"

"Wow, you surely do have quite the interesting life", Donnie said "Could become quite the amazing biography story in my eyes"

"Hey who am I to complain?", I said, shrugging "When life gives you lemons you just got learn how to deal with them"

"So you left home at an early age, had to make it out on your own, you meet our brother, get into life and death situations, a cancer battler and a vegan?", Leo said

I looked at him surprised. "Wait how did you know that?", I asked

"Well it says so on your tattoo on your wrist", he said, motioning to my left wrist

I looked to see my first tattoo I had gotten when I got my job at the parlor, in black ink written in cursive saying "vegan" along my wrist almost like as if I was wearing a bracelet. "Oh yeah, I am one, been one for pretty much all my life", I said "I know it must sound silly"

"Not really", he said, shrugging and shaking his head

"I don't think it is either", Donnie said "A lot of people are vegan, even some famous people are vegan and I don't see what's wrong with it"

I smiled slightly and I felt Mikey nudge me in the shoulder with his arm. "See they don't think its weird, they are not going to laugh at you", he said, with a smile "Its not weird"

"Weird if you ask me", Raph said, with a dark look while eating eggs

I looked slightly over at him as the others looked back at him with unpleasant looks. "Well no one asked for your opinion", Leo said

"It's just weird to me", he said, again sounding not phased by the comment

"It's not weird Raph, its just a different life style", Donnie said "She doesn't believe in exploiting someone else's life"

"Still not typical to me, how can she even stop?", Raph asked

"Well she found a way and that's something for her to be proud of", Leo said "You shouldn't judge her just because what she thinks, how would you feel if she made fun of your lifestyle?"

"How would she know? Barely known her for a day", he said "They say vegans are just skinny weaklings"

"Will you knock it off?!", Mikey said, suddenly standing up from his chair

I was a bit taken back from the sudden outburst from Mikey, causing Leo and Donnie to gasp in surprise, and with that, that made Raph shut up immediately and looked at him confused. I could see Mikey was glaring at him from out of the corner of my eye and I was shaking terribly inside. "That is her choice, if that is what she believes in, then that is what it is, leave her alone!", he said

I gulped silently to myself, making myself smaller in the chair. Raph and Mikey just glared at each other for what seemed like a long time, but eventually Raph stood up abruptly from his seat and I instinctively scooted more beside Mikey's leg hiding myself a bit. He then turned around and walked out and smashed one of the cabinets breaking it off its hinges, causing me to gasp softly in fright, before he disappeared.

"Yikes", I said, softly

"And I just fixed that!", Donnie said, sounding irritated

"Jeez is he really like this much?", I asked

"That was about a six there on his anger scale, you don't want to see him go to ten", Leo said, shaking his head

"Why? What's the worst he can do?", I asked

"Break bones, smash concrete with a single punch, and throw heavy things around that causes a lot of destruction", Donnie said, adjusting his glasses "Last time he got pissed he smashed my laptop"

"Woah! Jeez and I thought Charlie Sheen had anger management problems", I said, shocked

"Just keep your distance from him until he cools down, you don't want to see him at his worst", Mikey said, sitting back down

"I will keep that in mind definitely", I said, nodding in agreement

After trying to have a decent breakfast after the whole dispute that unfolded, I left the kitchen being sure to avoid Raph as much as possible not wanting to get in his path. I walked in some random direction and right when I thought I was in the clear, I felt someone touch my shoulder. I shrieked and quickly whipped around thinking it was Raph, but to my relief it was Donnie gently holding me by the arms thinking I was going to fall. "It's okay, it's just me", he said, trying to sound as calm as he could

"Jeez you scared me for a second there", I said, regaining my breath

"Sorry, I just wanted to make sure you were okay", he said "You looked really scared"

"Well despite having my vegan lifestyle choice being ridiculed once more, yeah I am peachy", I said, with a nod

"I never expected him to do that, that's something I have never seen before", he said "I hope it didn't hurt you too much"

"Hardly, it's not the first time I have been criticized on what I believe in", I said

"I am sorry, I didn't think it would happen", he said, sitting down in his swivel chair

"It's okay, its not your fault", I said, sitting on a metal file cabinet

"Well while you are here with me", he said "Mind if maybe I ask you a few questions about your cancer?"

"Sure, fire away amigo", I said, nodding

"What exactly kind of therapy do you get when you go to the hospital?", he asked

"I get my therapy by injections", I said "I get them every week, its a intra muscular injection where they put the needle in the muscle in my arm"

"Now do they say what chemicals they put in?", he asked

"Not that I remember when I first started, I guess maybe just ones that fight off cancer cells, they never really disclose what they put in me", I said, shrugging

"Now how long have been getting these injections?", he asked

"For close to eleven years now, so basically since I was diagnosed", I said

"Have they considered doing any other therapy? Seeing how you don't think its helping or have they not noticed?", he asked

"No, I don't think they have noticed its not working, I have not been given any other kind of therapy", I said "I have taken no drugs, no prescription pills, nothing like that, they didn't recommend a change and kept me going on the injections"

"Interesting", he said, nodding as he wrote down on the clipboard "Are you allergic to any chemicals?"

"No I am not, not allergic really to anything", I said, shaking my head

"How often do you have to use the air tanks?", he asked

"Usually if I have a bit of trouble breathing on certain days and when its really smoggy out", I said "They said if I get a lot of smog into me it could cause damage to my lungs"

"Okay, and last one what is your blood type?", he asked

"Its A negative", I said

He wrote down on the clipboard before setting it down on the desk. "Okay great, now do you mind if I can possibly get a blood sample?", he asked

"What for?", I asked, a bit confused

"To study what maybe could be going wrong with the therapy you are receiving and why its not being effective", I said "I think with the answers that you provided me, I can trace the source of the cancer cells and see what reaction it gets from getting the therapy you are getting now and see what can possibly be the right treatment"

"You can do that?", I asked, surprised

"Well it would be my first time trying, but I did read about cancer treatments last year", he said "I might be able to find the right adequate treatment you need in order to be cured"

"Yeah I mean I do want to be cured more than anything", I said "Get back the life I always wanted, that would be a dream come true, yeah totally you can have a sample, do you need a lot?"

"Oh no, not a lot, just need a little sample of it", he said, taking out a few things from a metal draw "Don't want to drain too much of that, I know that feeling all too well"

"What do you mean?", I asked, curiously

"I was captured by an enemy of ours last year and he was going to use our blood to make an antidote", he said, taking the cap off a butterfly needle with his teeth "He was going to spread a chemical in the air and make New York a quarantine zone"

"Why in the world would someone do that?", I asked

"Make money off of it", he said, rubbing his fingers together

"Oh well that's obvious", I said, rolling my eyes "How much did they drain out of you?"

"Enough where I almost went into cardiac arrest", he said, screwing on a blood valve on the needle

"Holy shit!", I said, stunned

"Yeah it was not a good experience at all", he said, shaking his head "I really thought we were going to die"

"I can't believe someone would do that, I'm so sorry that happened", I said, feeling sympathetic

"Hey its not your fault, things just happen when you don't expect it, what matters is we did get out of there alive", he said

"Yeah that's true", I said, nodding "Though I would like to find out that asshole who did that to you"

"He vanished last year, we have no idea where he is at", Donnie said, shaking his head

"People who do things like that should have the same treatment done to them and see how they like it", I said

"If only they could", Donnie said

He was about to inject the needle into my arm until I blocked his hand with my own and he looked at me confused. "Sorry just not this arm", I said, rubbing my right arm "Its the one where they injected so many times, it becomes really numb when a needle gets pushed in"

"Oh of course, no worries", he said, getting on the other side of me

He put some alcohol on a gauze pad on my wrist and he gently injected the needle into my vein. The blood slowly came out until it filled the valve up to the top. "I will get straight to work on the sample and see what I can do", he said, taking the needle out and pushing a band aid on the cut

"Well hopefully you will find something, I am not sure if you will", I said

"Hey they don't call me the residential genius for nothing, I am sure I will find something", he said, with a smile

"Okay then genius, good luck", I said, with a slight giggle

I left Donnie to do his work and I began to explore more around the lair that I didn't quite yet get the chance to see. I came across a more darkened part of it and I could see lit candles on the ground inside a room that glowed dimly from the fog that was coming from an vent on the wall. I walked more inside to take a look and just when I did I saw Splinter walk out in front of me, carrying a tray in his paws with a kettle and small cups passing me. He set down the tree and he picked up a small water can and started to fill up a small pot holding a bonsai tree. Once he finished he began to rearrange the leaves in an orderly manner as I walked a bit closer. "You have a nice bonsai", I said

"Yes, I do tend to it daily, making sure it grows properly", Splinter said, with his back still to me arranging the leaves

"Reminds me of the one I have at home", I said, walking inside "I keep it on my windowsill where I see it every morning"

"You have grown much Skylar, you have blossomed from a young sprout to a beautiful rose", he said, turning around and facing me

"I can't believe I am really seeing you again Splinter, after so many years", I said, sitting down on my legs

"Time has greatly gone by, I always thought about you every day and how you were coping with your family and cancer", he said, sitting down on a cushion in front of me

"Oh and by the way", I said

I pulled out from my shirt and gripped the necklace that was hiding and I pulled it out letting it dangle in front of me. "You still have it", he said, surprised

"Best present anyone has ever given me", I said, with a smile "I wear it all the time"

"It was my gift to you for your heroic act", he said

"Its really beautiful, thank you", I said "Though I haven't been able to figure out what to put into it quite yet"

"Many ideas do cloud the mind, but one will stand out in front, like a lighthouse glowing in the bay", Splinter said

"Nice philosophy", I said, smiling "I will keep that one in mind"

"May I ask you something Skylar?", Splinter asked

"Okay, what is it?", I asked

"I need you tell me about your mother", he said

I inhaled sharply, my heart was racing fast. I bit down on my lip and I hunched myself over, trying to hide myself away. "What about her?", I asked

"I need to know what she did to you while we were apart", Splinter said "Did she ever hurt you?"

I glanced up at him, and I kept my head down as I did. I had no indication of wanting to speak. Splinter placed his paw on top of my knee. "The night we met, when you said she was yelling at you, did she hurt you?"

I slowly shook my head and I could hear him take a deep breath. "The bruises were hiding under my shirt, she pushed me hard", I said

"Can you remember the first time she ever hurt you?", he asked

"When dad left home", I said "Mom came home, she looked really mad, I asked her what's wrong, and she slapped me across the face and she pushed me on the ground...hard and she threw a photo frame at me"

I moved my shirt down slightly and on my shoulder three scars, different lengths and all just half a inch apart. Splinter looked at me speechless, as if he had just seen a ghost and he was loss of words and emotion. I hung my head as I pulled my shirt back up and my body began to shake violently. I could see Splinter's paw slowly and gently reach over and he grasped both of my hands in his, shielding them from the outside world. "Skylar, listen to me", he said, gently "You don't ever have to be scared anymore, you will never have to worry about seeing her again, for she does come back, me and my sons will be protect you"

"I know its been a long time since I have seen her and I still have been scared, but I believe you", I said, nodding

"Come here", he said, holding his arms out

I scooted over to him as his arms wrapped around me and I hugged him sniffling into his robe. "I know we have only meet a few times over the years, but I always thought of you as a daughter", he said

"And you know, even though we met only twice you always acted like a dad towards me", I said "Better than what my dad ever did for me"

"And I will keep caring and protect you as if you were my own", he said

I squeezed him tighter, moving my head deeper into his hug. "Thanks", I said, with a smile

We both kept in our hug for a bit longer before we released, looking at each other. "Would you do me a favor Skylar?", he asked

"Of course anything", I said, nodding

"Could you bring this tray to Leonardo? He is in the dojo and he should be finishing up his katas and he always needs his tea after training", he asked

"Yeah totally of course", I said, picking up the tray and get up to my feet

"It's on the same path from here to your right", he said

"I'll find it, thank you", I said, as I turned to slowly walk away

"And Skylar?", Splinter said

I stopped and looked over my shoulder. "I couldn't be more proud of how far you overcome", he said, with a smile and nod

I gave him a warm smile before I walked forward again, heading to the dojo where Leo was at. I saw Leo was doing different moves in the middle of the dojo, pretending it looked like he was fighting an invisible figure in front of him. He did numerous slices in front of him in a quick attack, then did a back flip and when he threw one of his swords up in the air, he did a complete back flip and when the sword came back down it stabbed down in front of him as it toggled. He grunted in frustration as he kicked some dust with his foot.

"Leo, that was amazing!", I said, in awe

Leo immediately jumped up in the air spinning around and was about to strike down with one of his swords, before I saw his eyes widen stopping his arm immediately seeing me. Even though he was a few feet away it did make my heart skip a few beats. "Oh Skylar, its you, yikes you scared me there for a second, I could sliced you in half", he said, regaining his breath

"Sorry, I thought you might of heard me coming in", I said

"It's okay, don't worry about it, just wait till I finish before you come in okay?", he said, spinning his swords around his wrists before stabbing in the ground

"Woah! You are sure are skilled with those swords Leo", I said, amazed

"Oh its nothing really, trying to get this one move down but can't seem to get it right", he said, wiping some sweat off his forehead

"Well I thought it looked pretty good, you have good swordsmanship", I said

He smiled some. "Thanks Sky, what do you have there?", he asked, eyeing the tray in my hands

"Oh! Splinter asked me if I could bring you your green tea, he told me you like to have some after your training sessions", I said

"I do, it helps relax my mind", he said, with a nod "You care to join me for some?"

"Oh sure, that sounds nice, its been actually a long time since I have had tea", I said, walking over to a cushioned area next to the arena "I don't think I ever had green tea before"

"Well I think you are certainly going to love it", Leo said, sheathing his swords and walking down from the arena

"Well let's see", I said, sitting down on a cushion and putting the tray in the middle of the floor

Leo joined me in front of me as I poured in some tea into the small cups. He took his own taking a sip and I gently blew on mine before taking a sip. "Mmmmmm this is really good", I said, as the warm flavor went down my throat

"One of my personal favorites", he said, with a smile

"I will have to get myself some of this", I said "It's really tasty"

"And best part of it for you, its vegan", he said

"Even better", I said, smiling

"You seem to be really open towards us", Leo said "Considering no one really gives us the chance"

"Yeah, well, I had a little help from Mikey coming out of my own shell myself", I said "I didn't really talk too much"

"Really? It seems a bit hard to believe that you could of ever been an introvert", he said, taking a sip of his tea

"Well with childhood neglect, it left me with physical, mental and emotional injuries", I said "Including difficulty relating to people, but I always could relate to animals"

"Like relating what you were going through what they had gone through?", he asked

"Exactly, the more we got to know each other and having rough childhoods growing up, and just not being understood by people", I said "It relates to me so I can understand what it means, but the only difference is you guys had someone there that loved you"

"Do you have a hard talking with others?", he asked

"Well I had what I call limitations, I had a very difficult time comprehending language", I said "I knew something was really wrong with me because I wasn't getting along with the other children around me, but I couldn't tell what it was. I thought it might of been my cancer because I was still attending school after I was diagnosed, but I think it was something more. It was a source of great distress and fear for me and I was very reclusive growing up and I spent a whole lot of my time by myself outside. As I got older I sought help for my condition, but it was very difficult for me to open up to anyone and I couldn't overcome the obstacle"

"Wow, you certainly had rough it growing up", Leo said, looking at me with wonder

"You know how they put the racing horses behind the gates, there is an incredible of energy before they let them out, but you see I felt like I was stuck in the gate there for all these years", I said

"I just can't believe your own mother treated you like that", he said "That doesn't make any sense, I mean you couldn't control what happened and yet she still blames you for something you didn't do intentionally"

"Trust me I have been trying to find that answer for a long time", I said, nodding "But I don't think I will be finding out any time soon, even if I don't, its not worth it, I consider our relationship has already gone out the window"

"When you said you ran away from home, and that you were living out on the streets for few nights, did it occur to you that you might of gone back?", he asked

I took a sip of my tea before setting it down. "I did think about it for a little bit, to be quite honest, but I also thought if I did go back I would be back to square one of trying to get my life in order and make it better", I said "I knew couldn't stay, I didn't want to go but I had to"

"I wouldn't say I blame you, it's just too much to handle", he said

"It was, but even though I did spend a few nights out there, I don't regret it", I said "It felt like a sense of freedom, like I finally broke loose from my chains of misery and sadness and I was on a road to recovery from my troubled past"

"I just can't believe you really made it out there on your own", he said "And you never had to go back when you thought things were going to get rough and you built your own staircase that led you where you wanted to go in life"

I smiled softly. "It wasn't easy, but I am glad I did what I did", I said "And I wouldn't change one thing about it"

"You are really brave Skylar as well as a fighter too, you really are inspiring to me", he said, with a smile

"Awwww thanks Leo", I said, with a smile

I gave him a hug around his shoulder and he chuckled hugging me back with one arm, giving my back a few pats, before I released him.

"And look don't let this new move put you down", I said "Certain things are just difficult at first until you can figure out a plan of action in order to accomplish what it is you want to accomplish, but you will get there, it takes time. But I know you can do it, as long as you keep believing in yourself, you will always succeed"

Leo gave me a hopeful look before I gave him a smile, and eventually he did smile up to me. I gave his shoulder a squeeze and rub before I got up and walked off. I stopped when I reached the kitchen and looked around the corner and I saw Leo looked to be in deep thought and he got back up on the arena and he did the first move I saw him do once, then he did a few more times before he did the second move getting used to it. Finally when he did the first move and second moves a few times, he managed to do the flip kicking his sword up in the air with his foot and he did a complete flip before letting the sword spin around his neck and fly up in the air again before it landed back down in his hand catching it.

A big grin then came to his face. "Yes!", he said, doing a fist pump

"Way to go big guy", I said, softly with a smile

Later on I was doing yoga in the living room right in front of the water slide. It made it more relaxing since it was like I was outside in nature. When I moved forward on my arms resting on my forearms and letting my legs go into a perfect split, I took a soft breathe letting my body relax and let my mind flow. After a few minutes in this position, my eyes shot open as I got a vision in my head of something amazing. I reached over for my backpack beside me and unzipped it trying to stay in the same position while I wriggled my sketchpad out and I grabbed my pencil bag out from the front pocket. I opened up my pad and grabbed a pencil from my bag and I began to quickly sketch out what I had seen during my yoga, before the vision escape my mind. "Skylar?", a voice said

I stopped drawing and I looked under my arms to see Mikey upside down looking at me. "Oh hey Mikey, what's up?", I asked, wobbling a bit before I steadied myself

"What are you doing?", he asked, looking at me funny

"I am doing a new sketch, possibly that could be a new design for work", I said, tracing a few lines on the paper

"Yeah but why are you doing it upside down?", he asked, cocking his head to where it was right side with mine

"I always get inspirations when I do it at a different angle for some reason", I said "I don't know why, but every time I do my yoga I always get an idea and I just have to get it on paper before it disappears"

"Huh how different", he said, seeming like he understood

"Or weird", I said, giggling as I shaded in some parts

"Mind if I see?", he asked

"Sure, just finishing up", I said, feeling my legs starting to sink back down

I shaded and outlined the last remaining details before I felt my arm give out. "Ouch! Shoulder cramp!", I said, falling on my side with a thump

Mikey started laughing at me as I sat up pushing up my bandanna that was covering my eyes, giving him a smirk. "Haha very funny", I said, sarcastically

He then picked up my sketch pad as he began to look over my design as I took a chug of my strawberry lemonade vitamin water. "Wow this is really cool!", he said, looking at it amazed

"It's just a rough draft at the moment, still need to add in more detail", I said

He then started going through the other pages that were in the sketch pad, through my other sketches. "Wow, Sky these are awesome!", he said, impressed

"Awww its nothing, those were actually my first ever drawings I did before I took art classes in school", I said

"I'm serious! These are way better than what I can do", he said

"Well I don't know about that, I think they kind of suck", I said, shrugging

"Don't be so self judgmental about yourself Sky, I always give out an honest opinion, and I am really serious on these look", he said "You should be proud of yourself for what you made"

"Thanks Mikey, that really, really does mean something to mean" I said, with a soft smile

I'm not sure what it was, but Mikey's eyes were a beautiful light crystal blue as he smiled at me. It's like you could look at them all day and you could lose your heart and soul into them. He was more free lanced and easy going than his other brothers and he was full of kindness. We just looked at each other for the longest time, his face was a bit firm but yet so kid like and his eyes were still facing mine deeply. Almost like we were both lost in a deep spell and neither one of us was breaking from it. "Guys! Guys! Guys!", a voice called out

We both shook out of the trance as we saw Donnie come running into the living room. "Donnie, what's goin on?", I asked

"Skylar I found something when I was testing out your blood sample and found a possible therapy", he said, excitedly

"Well paint me green and call me a cucumber, you actually did find something! You are a genius!", I said, amazed

I saw Mikey struggling not to laugh by holding his hands over his mouth, trying to keep it together from the funny expression. "Sorry, heard that one from work", I said, giggling

Donnie looked like he was holding his breath trying not to look like to laugh too. I giggled a little before they both took a breath calming down. "So what did you find Donnie?", I asked

"Okay so I made a solution of the sample of the blood and with the answers that you gave me, I made a new kind of chemotherapy with a little bit of a twist to it", he said

"Does it involve getting giant needles poked into you?", I asked

"Not even close, its so painlessly its easy as if you were breathing the air right now", he said

"So its like chemotherapy, but not necessarily the kind you would see if you were in a hospital?", I asked

"Exactly", he said, with a smile

I shrugged. "Okay, I am willing try anything if it means to improve this life destroyer", I said

"Great I will go get the tank", he said, walking quickly off "You are going to love this!"

I then sat down beside Mikey on the couch. "Do you think this will work?", he asked

"I don't know if it will or not, but it beats to having to get a giant needle stuck in your arm every week and have it do nothing beneficial", I said, shrugging

Donnie came back with the tank and a mask with a hose, with Leo coming from the dojo with Splinter. But Raph decided to keep his distance away from the rest of us by leaning against the wall and chewing on a toothpick. Well I didn't care at the moment, after all he did make fun of my lifestyle choice and caused damage in the kitchen. I decided to just keep a low profile and not acknowledge his presence. "What is happening?", Splinter asked

"Donnie thinks he might of found something to help with my leukemia Splinter", I said

"Maybe it could the be the cure to this!", Mikey said, excitedly

"Well I don't think its an overnight miracle Mikey, but I am sure it could be a positive start", Leo said, sounding hopeful

"I studied her blood sample while I was running some tests on typical different kinds of chemicals that is used in intra muscular injection", Donnie said "I found out what chemicals that the hospital has been giving her and it turns out to be the wrong kind of chemicals that are being used"

"What do you mean wrong kind Donnie?", I asked

"When I tested the chemicals on a cancer cell in your blood, many were actually fighting over the cell on how to kill the cell", he said "So it was mixed messages being sent out on what the cell was suppose to do and it thought it was being attacked and white blood cells came and destroyed the chemicals, that's why your therapy hasn't been working properly because of mixed messages"

"And now its starting to make sense!", I said, flopping my arms in my lap "I can't believe it!"

"So basically she was given that therapy for nothing?", Leo asked

"Unfortunately, yes", Donnie said, with a nod

"So what now?", Mikey asked

"Well with this new tank", Donnie said "I created a new therapy by testing out different chemicals that have been known to treat properly cancer cells and they neutralize it to where it starts to build up an immunity where it can began the healing process, and its easy as simply breathing in this air in this tank"

"That sounds promising", I said

"So you are going to make her breathe in that?", Leo asked

"I already tested it out, it should be safe for her", Donnie said

"Like I said, I am willing to try anything", I said "Let's give it a shot"

"Alright", he said, handing me the mask and setting the tank beside me "Just breathe it in for a few seconds and let me know what you think"

I looked at the mask for a few moments before I looked over at Mikey giving me a bit of a encouraging look to make me try it and I nodded slowly.

I took a shaky breath and I placed the mask over my mouth as I inhaled in the air deeply. It had a funny taste to it, kind of like a minty grape taste. I inhaled in for a few more seconds before I exhaled taking the mask off my mouth and I felt...amazing. It felt like my body just got a shot of immunity and could go out and do a marathon if I wanted to. I never felt better than any other chemotherapy session I had since my first treatment. "It feels...great", I said, looking up at Donnie smiling

He smiled in excitement and I placed the mask back over my mouth and began to take in another inhale, feeling my breathing was already starting to improve and feeling weight being lifted off of my shoulders. Donnie then took the stethoscope around his neck as I was inhaling in the air again and he placed it over my heart, hearing for a few seconds, before looking up at me. "Your heartbeat is already getting stronger", he said

"It's working", Leo said, with a hopeful smile

I smiled and I placed the mask over my mouth again and inhaled in more of the air. I don't know what it was, but I think these turtles and rat are like angels that were sent from heaven above to do wonders on the ground. They are such friendly creatures. I don't see how anyone could be scared of someone who acted even more human than anyone I have ever seen before. I wish that people were so such judgmental on things that don't make sense in their eyes and just allow it to explain and perform its true potential. I'm starting to begin to realize that maybe that it was a sign for me to meet Mikey and his family, since they are welcoming a complete stranger and helping me cure a deadly disease in my body. Maybe Splinter's words were right when I was a little girl that I did have a bright future and things would change for the better. Well I feel that, that dream was becoming a reality.


	8. Chapter 8

Sky's Pov...  
I loved mornings. It was always my favorite part of the day. I can just have some time to myself before I have to get on the treadmill to start my marathon of my busy life. I was out on the rooftop of my building enjoying the morning sunrise over the city, enjoying a cup of hot chocolate and drawing in my sketch pad. But it wasn't doing a new sketch for work, it was freestyle this time. The clan symbol Mikey allowed me to do, with a little added detail on my part, was booming business at work and everyone was wanting to get it and I was hoping that I could ask for permission for more designs he might to get another creative idea going. Instead of doing work sketches I was doing the one thing my mind has been struggling to get off, Michelangelo. He's everything in my mind. I think about him all the time no matter what I do. Like he is always beside me watching me. I was doing some sketching of the outer detail of his head while shading in on his bandanna around his face. It was starting to come along great and I was determined to make this piece perfect.

It was all starting to come together now. He is everything that I wished for in a guy and so much more. Funny, sweet, caring, and handsome. Yes I am getting attracted to him. I just never thought I would ever meet a guy like him, since most guys now these days could care less and its hard to find one that truly cares. But I feel like I no longer needed to search for that guy. Even though I found the one I was looking for, I doubted that he might feel the same way about me. I was dying and I was sick, he deserves so much better than me. As the sun rose higher into the sky, the sky began to be painted with the warm colors of the sun's glow. "Oh it's so beautiful", I said, to myself

Especially the shades of oranges that mixed in with the clouds. It reminded me of Mikey. I then got an idea into my head. "Oh please be awake Mikey", I said, pulling out my phone

Mikey's Pov...  
The lair was dark and quiet, silent as a rat. No pun intended towards Splinter. Everyone was still fast asleep in their rooms, not even this time the faint whistling kettle pot signaling that Leo and Splinter were making their morning tea. I was in my bunk with my brother Raph up above me, snoring like a mountain lion snuggled up to my body pillow when I heard the sound of vibrating the bed. I ignored it thinking it would pass but once it did it again, I groggily woke up seeing my cell phone was lighting up. "Dude Donnie you better not be butt dialing me again, it's too early for that and that's my specialty", I said, taking my phone, hitting the screen blindly

"Hello?", I said

"Hey Mikey, it's me", a familiar voice said

"Skylar? Is that you?", I asked, sitting up in bed

"No Mikey, its Robin Williams", she said "Yes its me"

"Funny dudette, what's going on?", I asked, amused by her sarcasm "Do you know what time it is?"

"Sorry, are you awake?", she asked

"I am now", I said, rubbing my eyes open

"Oh good! You have to come up to my place, you got to see this!", she said

"Dudette its early in the morning, what could be so great at-", I said, looking over at the alarm clock "5:30 in the morning"

"Trust me Mikey you are going to thank me once you see this, please!", she said, doing a pleading voice

I knew if that was me she would be giving me the puppy eyes right about now, and that's hard to resist. "Okay Sky, you talked me into it, I'll see you in ten minutes", I said, yawning

"Great!", she said, hanging up

I chuckled setting my phone down. I got dressed and put on my sneakers before grabbing my skateboard and putting it behind my shell. I grabbed my nunchucks from off the rack and made sure no one was up before I snuck out. I knew it wouldn't be long before everyone would wake up, so I had plenty of time to come up with some kind of excuse when I came back. I ran out of the lair towards the manhole cover where it would lead up to the alley next to Sky's apartment complex. I pushed open the manhole cover and ran directly into the shadows to hide from the few passing people on the sidewalk. Who on earth would be up at this early in the morning?! Certainly not me, but this morning I was making an exception. I made my way up to the escape ladder and when I reached the top I was greeted with a stunning image. A blaze of light was starting to burn up the morning sky creating artwork that no one could even do. All kinds of colors mixed in perfectly as you could barely seeing the tip of the sun peeking over the bay. In front of me was something else stunning, Skylar. Her back was to me as she sat sideways on the ledge watching the morning come alive. The blaze washed over her face as she smiled with content with her eyes shut, enjoying the warmth. She looked much alive and even more, she looked like she was apart of a masterpiece sitting there motionless, with the exception of her breathing and the slight breeze blowing on her yellow bandanna tails. I got up on the rooftop as the sun rose higher and it made me look at it with wonder. "Whoa", I said

"I know", Sky said, without moving to look back

"I've never seen anything like it", I said, sitting beside her

"Me either, but this is one you can't forget", she said

"It's beautiful", I said "I never actually seen a sunrise before"

"Worth it isn't it?", she asked, looking towards me

"Yeah...worth it", I said, slowly looking towards her

Sky's Pov...  
We both slowly looked back towards the sunrise seeing the warm colors of dawn slowly started to fade away to blue. I peeked with my eyes to see that Mikey looked really happy being up here. Like he looked "really" happy, even more than at night. He belonged out here, not hiding away in a dark place. He deserves to be respected and accepted. The sunlight made him look different, something completely different. Underneath that green skin, shell and bandanna lied a person, a person with a lot of heart that needed to be shown. I didn't noticed our hands were awfully close to one another's, barely fingertips touching. I saw that his barely inched closer to my hand and I felt a bit bravery come to me, making me move closer towards his.

As if by magic or coincidence, I felt more skin touch mine, rough and scaly, but that didn't matter. Large fingers intertwined with mine, till I felt my hand enclosed around Mikey's hand. It was different than a human hand but that didn't matter as well. I felt safe, I felt protected and one thing I haven't felt in a long time...loved. Simultaneously we looked at our interlocked hands and then up at each other, in silence. There were no words, but there was a message we had in each other's eyes and I think we both meant the same theme. It seemed like forever we were just staring into each other's eyes, it was the perfect moment. That is until...the sound of a phone ringing ruined it. We both kind of blushed pulling away looking awkward, as I turned trying to look normal. "I think someone's calling you", I said

"Damn it, now what?", he said, answering the call "Yo what's up?"

"Could ask you the same thing", a voice answered, that I knew it was Leo "Where are you? I don't see you in bed"

"Oh! That...oh I couldn't sleep so I thought I take...a walk", he said, trying to make it sound like it was true

Mikey tensed up looking nervous as we waited for a few moments before I heard Leo answer. "Well that's something I have never seen you do before, but alright fair enough, but you need to get back here now, training starts in an hour and we need breakfast prepared", he said

We both sighed quietly in relief. "You got it, I am on my way, see you in a bit", he said, before hanging up

"Nice save", I said, giving him a smirk

"Good thing he did fall for it", he said

"Oh well, so much for the moment to last", I said, shrugging

"Well at least we did get a little bit of time to spend together", he said, giving me a hopeful smile

I managed to smile a little. "Yeah, that's true", I said "I am glad you enjoyed the sunrise"

"It was my first one actually", he said, looking out towards it

"Really? You have never seen one?", I asked, quite surprised

"Yeah never seen one before, not allowed to be out even during this time of the morning", he said

"Oh that sucks, well, I am glad I could show it to you", I said, giving him a smile

"I better get going before Leo pounds my ass and I get sent to the Ha'shi", he said

"Right", I said, giggling as we both stood up "See you guys later on tonight? I get off at seven"

"Sounds great, we will see you then", he said "And don't worry if they ask me if you were with me, I won't say anything"

"Thanks", he said

We both gave each other a hug that was filled with warmth and even more with the sun now peeking over the top of the buildings below. It was so comfortable I could of fallen asleep again easily and even though Mikey's hand was rough his bicep, where my hand was laying on the top of, was incredibly soft and smooth. I could hear the sound of his thumping heart against my chest when he put his head behind my own, pulling me closer. I didn't want this to end, but eventually we were forced to pull apart. "Bye", he said, giving me a smile

"Bye Mikey", I said, giving him one in return

He slowly walked away as he flipped off from the edge of the rooftop and he then disappeared flying down into the sewers flipping the manhole cover back on top of the hole. I smiled more for a few moments before I gathered my mug finishing up my drink and sketch pad before heading back the fire escape to my window. But as I got down I noticed a little note and an orange lily on the corner of the barely open window. I opened it more as I set my stuff down to take a look. I took the note and smiled warmly seeing it was from Mikey.

"Thanks for the great morning, hope we can do it again soon-Mikey"

I noticed that there the same little smile he did at the bottom of it like the first time, but this time there was a little something extra to it, a little filled in heart right beside it. I didn't know if it was true or not, but I felt my heart began to beat a little faster than normal through my chest. I thought maybe I was just reacting to the heart thinking that it was just a friendly gesture, but when I picked up the lily and took in the sweet amorous scent to it, maybe my heart was telling me what I was thinking all along. Maybe it was a sign that maybe we both are falling in love.

"Man my life is getting extremely strange", I said, to myself shaking my head

I looked down at the lily and gently brushed my fingers along the soft and smooth petals and then down to the manhole cover where Mikey disappeared to. A small smile crept to my face before I climbed into my apartment window. I got ready for work, getting dressed in a yellow tank top with a white cami underneath, some dark slightly ripped up jeans and dark green high tops. I tied a short orange bandanna around my head tying the knot at the bottom. But as I gathered my keys, my new oxygen tank that Donnie made for me, and my phone, the lily was on my dinning room table sitting in the faint sunlight that was coming in through the curtains. I grabbed it as I pinned in the knot of my bandanna and I looked at myself in the mirror, then smiled. "Perfect", I said

Work seemed to go by fast today, only had two clients to do a huge design on the back and doing some fill ins on a shoulder. I was allowed to even leave early since Bryan was having a business meeting with another tattoo company. I made my way from the shop and picking up a bottle of Orange Crush on the way to the lair to hang out with the boys. Even though I have known them for only a week, I feel like I have known them all my life and their like the brothers I never had. Despite getting along great with Leo, Donnie and Mikey, Raph seemed to be the most troubling towards me. I don't know what's gotten up his shell and what's his deal against me, but I was not going to allow him to treat me like this even if it does get ugly. I just hoped it won't get to that point.

I made my way towards the nearest alley and towards the manhole cover. It was much of a struggle to just get the damn thing off the ground. No wonder how they got so strong, this weighed three of me. I slid inside pulling it back over as I jumped down into the sewers. Luckily it was lightly dimmed to where I can see where I was going. I made it up to the turnstile going through it. I heard the sound of hip hop music blasting through the speakers and Leo was practicing katas on the training pedestal. Luckily Raph was up on the second floor lifting weights instead of usually guard the entrance like a junkyard dog, watching my every move. "Hey Skylar!", he said, doing a flip throwing his sword up in the air, and catching it from spinning around his wrist

"Hey you got that move right!", I said

"You were right, I did need a good plan of action", he said, flipping both swords up before catching and spinning them then sheathing them

"Well I am glad it worked out for you", I said, with a smile

"Hey Sky, how's the tank?", Donnie asked, walking over cleaning his hands from grease on a rag

"Works like a charm", I said, unzipping my bag to see the small tank inside "I never felt better"

"You are still about half way down, I will have to have a new tank ready for you by the end of the week", he said, checking the pressure dial

"Sounds like a plan", I said, zipping my bag back up "Have you guys seen Mikey?"

"We think he is probably hiding to scare you", Leo said, quietly pointing over his shoulder

I looked to where he was pointing and saw a big bulky shadow hiding on top of a pedestal. "Oh", I said, cocking my eyebrows "Thanks Leo, shhhh"

I quietly snuck over struggling not to giggle as I looked up to see it was still there crouching low, probably not aware that I was there. I looked back over to the boys and they did the motions to climb up and scream. I nodded with a smile and I quietly dug my heels into the metal and climbed up. As soon as I reached the top I looked back to Leo and Donnie giving me the thumbs up. I then slowly reached out and grabbed the shadow screaming, only to be surprised with a giant bulky pillow shaped like Mikey. "Huh?", I said, confused

"Incoming!", a voice yelled

I barely had time to look around till I was snatched in the air screaming as I went flying up high in the lair. I could hear the boys laughing their heads off as I did a flip being thrown up in the air, before getting caught. Only to realize it was Mikey giving me a smirk. "Okay not cool! Put me down!", I said, annoyed

"If you insist! Bombs away!", he said, releasing me from his arms as I went falling down

I screamed before I landed on a giant beanbag catching me before I sunk like I fell on top of a marshmallow. I climbed out shaking my head making a funny sound which only made the boys laugh even more. I turned my bandanna forward before giving them a smirk. "I am assuming this was premeditated", I said, cocking an eyebrow

"Maybe", Mikey said, before landing on the ground kicking his board up snickering

"Oh haha very funny, now its on you three are in trouble", I said, smirking

"Okay we will be prepared for that", Leo said, crossing his arms smirking looking away

"I got the whole place on security watch", Donnie said

"We will see about that", I said, rolling out of the beanbag "By the way fun ride Mikey"

"You should of seen your face! You looked like you just saw Shredder!", Mikey said, giving me a funny look

"Michelangelo!", an elder voice said

Suddenly Splinter appeared as the music was lowered down on the volume, with a serious look on his face and his cane resting in front of him underneath both of his paws.

"Don't..mock..Shredder", Splinter said, with a deep tone

I then got a look of curiosity. "Who is Shredder?", I asked

I would think that if a record player was in the room and had scratched out loud from hitting a crack that's how quiet it was, as the boys had whipped their heads quickly towards me looking at me with disbelief. "You seriously don't know who Shredder is?", Raph said, jumping down from the second floor

"You really don't Skylar?", Leo asked

"Not a clue", I said, shaking my head while shrugging "Couldn't tell you to save my life if it depended on it"

"Shredder is our blood enemy, who has been trying to destroy and take over our city and destroy our clan", Splinter said, as he slowly walked in the center of us

"But why though? What does he have to do with anything with you guys?", I asked

"Perhaps it would be wise if I told you exactly how we came to be", Splinter said

"You mean how you are able to talk and walk like that?", I asked

"Yes", he said, nodding

The boys had sat around Splinter while I leaned against the file cabinet listening to his tale.

"You see Skylar before we came here to live in the sewers, we were living in a scientific laboratory used as test subjects to find a cure to deadly diseases"

I shook my head in anger with my fists clenching up tight. "You okay Sky?", Mikey asked, looking concerned

"Oh hearing those words makes want to go out and shoot someone who does that!", I said, hitting my fist into my palm

"I am assuming you are highly against it?", Leo asked

"You have no clue", I said, shaking my head "Anything involving abuse, neglect or mistreatment gets me going like a boulder rolling down a cliff side"

I then realized Splinter was looking at me, waiting for me to finish. "Oh sorry Splinter, you can continue", I said, giggling nervously

"Anyways", he said, with a slow nod "Sacks, who was a enemy of ours long ago, gave us injections and our friend April O'Neil's father made sure that our vitals were strong enough to bare the strength of the mutagen. After the brothers went to sleep I heard loud voices. There was then smell of smoke and alarms sounded"

I gasped quietly as Splinter continued on with the story. "April's father had discovered the truth behind the man he was working for and he set fire to the lab and his last breath trying to destroy Shredder's plan. I was terrified before April appeared and ushered us to safety. I never had a voice then, but I thank her still to this day"

"Woah, that is insane", I said, completely in awe

"We wandered the sewers until we found our old lair. It was then that the mutagen that was injected into our blood began to change us in miraculous ways", Splinter said

"So the mutagen that was given to you is the reason why you guys are able to do what you can do now?", I asked

"Yes, it is", he said, with a nod

"Sounds very...far fetched", I said

"Far fetched sesh!", Donnie said, crossing his arms, doing a dramatic turn with his head

"Hey I am not saying its a bad thing, it just sounds very out of the ordinary", I said, holding my hands up in defense "Like one in a million chances of that ever happening"

"Don't worry about it dudette", Mikey said, shoving me with his arm "It is sort of when you think about it"

"So have you guys ever faced Shredder?", I asked

"We did when our home was invaded and three of my sons were captured", Splinter said

"That's when I told you about the blood drainage", Donnie said

"And when my sons faced him once more to stop Shredder from releasing the chemical to the citizens of New York", Splinter said, finishing his sentence "Before we had to relocate"

"Yikes! Jeez and I thought my life was chaotic, but yours here takes the cake", I said

"Though I think its about to get more chaotic, we just got a possible indication from April that Shredder might be hiring someone to work for him, Baxter Stockman, the lead scientist at TCRI", Donnie said

"Oh I have heard about him, heard he has quite the brains", I said "But what makes you think he could be working for Shredder?"

"Well with Shredder being in prison, he will need the best he can find in order to come up with a new evil plan", he said

"What could they possibly be up to?", I asked

"That's the thing, we don't know, and we won't know until we find out any information that he might have", he said

"But you guys this isn't going to be easy, we don't even know where this guy is at", I said

"Only that I can do, watch this", he said, turning away on his swivel chair "I might be able to tap into his signal on any electronics he might be carrying on him to track his location"

He started typing up a few things on the keyboard as the rest of gathered around looking at the many security screens that were angled at different locations. "Come on show us something buddy", Leo said

One screen in front of us then appeared of a busy intersection in the middle of town where we saw a tall African American with thick black glasses type something on a tablet before getting into a black Mercedes as it drove away. "Bingo!", Donnie said, proudly

"Man you really need to be shown on your skills dude I am serious!", I said, amazed "Can you possibly find any other security cameras where he might be going?"

"I can try, let me see if I can hack into any cameras near by", he said, typing away as different images on the screens shown of different perspectives of different areas

We then spotted it on another screen heading uptown. "It's heading up near Grand Central Station", I said "I recognize those streets from doing morning jogs, that's probably where he is going, that's the main attraction at that intersection"

"The problem is exactly how to get close to him", Donnie said

"We could just ransack him and just find out ourselves", Raph said, cracking his knuckles

"Can't you think of anything else besides beating up people all the time?", Leo asked, with an annoyed look

"Well I don't think the fearless leader reasoning muck will get us anywhere neither", he said, arguing back

"Hey I have a really cool idea!", Mikey said, piping in

As the boys we were rambling on what to do I was looking at the screens and I looked over at another screen seeing a mannequin at a stand in window at Grand Central station in a little shop showing off shirts, with a wig and glasses. I zoomed in on the screen and I saw Stockman was heading up that way to the station. I then looked down at the tattoo on my wrist, seeing how that was what made me do what I did before and I now had to do it again.

"I'll do it for you guys", I said, turning to face them

They looked up at me surprised from offering to do such a task. "You?", Donnie asked

"Yeah why not? Why not let me? I am the only one who can get up near him", I said

"But he won't let just some random person come up to him Sky, he is a rather famous genius", he said

"I have done undercover work in the past when doing on a documentary I filmed", I said "I might be a rusty since its been a little while, but it never hurts to give it a shot"

"Well I don't see how we can't do that", Mikey said, looking up from me towards the others, with a confident smile

"I don't know about this, we don't take any chances", Leo said, in a serious tone

"And you guys shouldn't", I said, nodding in agreement "But what choice do you have? It's not like we are given a lot of options here, this might be our only shot on getting a lead of what's going on"

"I don't know, I mean we can't risk you getting hurt", Leo said, still sounding unsure

"Please Leo, give her a chance, what have we got to lose?", Mikey said "Sky could really help us out"

"Or she could get us exposed", Raph said, giving me a glare

I scoffed annoyed shaking my head. "What? You got a better idea wise guy?", I said, crossing my arms

"Hey! Who you calling wise guy?! Little girl?!", he said, getting up quickly with a glare, sounding threatening

"Look do you want to find out what this Stockman guy is up to or not?", I asked, glaring back

We gave each other an intense stare down, neither of us backing out. But his face began to soften more as I stared at him deeply in the eyes and he turned away scoffing. "Whatever", he said, sitting back down

Leo sighed softly. "Alright, we will let you do this", Leo said, finally agreeing "But you do need to be extremely careful"

"Don't worry I will, I am always, especially what assignments I was given in the past", I said "A lot of stealth and confidence"

"Any idea how you might want to go about it Sky?", Mikey asked

"Hang on, this always was just in case I ever did get caught", I said "I have an idea"

I grabbed my bag and I walked into Mikey and Raph's bedroom and took out an outfit. A few minutes I came out of the bedroom wearing a white buttoned up shirt, a professional looking gray coat, a mid thigh black skirt, and wearing a black wig that was tied up in a ponytail. I wore a pair of black framed glasses with fake lenses and had on black stockings with black high heels. "Think he will suspect anything?", I asked, adjusting the glasses

"Not a thing, professional is how he is", Donnie said, with a smile

"Good thing I still had this, I usually wore disguises when I did undercover work", I said, walking up "And if anything ever went wrong I can just slip right out"

"Here, you are going to need this, when you do get near him", he said, handing me a device

I took into my hand and I looked to see a watch with a green wrist band. "A watch?", I asked, looking up at him a little bit confused

"Not just any, it can hack into any device to get any information, even if its highly protected", he said "I am pretty sure he has got something locked up"

"We better get on the move before we lose track of him, we don't have much time", Leo said

We got right on it as we went above ground and running along the rooftops with Mikey carrying me on his shell holding my legs as I held on for dear life. Once we made it towards Grand Central Station we saw the same black Mercedes on the security monitors pull up across the sidewalk and Baxter Stockman come climbing out of the car. "There he is", I said, looking over the edge

"Okay, you sure you got this?", Leo asked

"Have I ever stirred you guys wrong?", I asked, cocking an eyebrow

"Well we did just meet last week", he said, following my joke, cocking one back at me

"Eh close enough", I said, shrugging and giggling

"Is that your pick up line or something?", Mikey asked, with a smirk

"Something like", I said, giggling "I am just weird period"

"That makes two of us", he said, with a chuckle

"Okay Skylar, once you get in, when you see him coming close, I will give you directions on what to do with the watch", Donnie said "You will also need these as well"

He handed me a pair of black headphones as I slipped them into my jacket. "Coolio, I will call as soon as he approaches", I said, about to go over the edge

"Wait, hang on Sky", Mikey said

I stopped before he handed a small knife with a black handle and Japanese writing engraved on the blade. "I always keep this on me, just in case", he said

"Thanks", I said, nodding, before giving his shoulder a squeeze

I hid it in my coat in a pocket and I slid the watch on over my wrist. "Alright wish me luck, I will do my best", I said, climbing down the escape ladder

I made it inside the station as I walked around trying to get a good visual on Stockman. I headed up the stairs to where a small restaurant and bar was above the souvenir shops. I got myself a table, getting a better view of the station. I waited around for a few minutes before I could see Stockman coming through the doors and heading straight to the stairs. I quickly grabbed my phone plugging in the headphones as I called Donnie.

"Okay I got a visual", I said "He is heading up the stairs, we are right at the bar on the second floor"

"Alright fantastic, you sure you don't want one of us to come down and be close by?", Donnie asked

"Nah I got this", I said, shaking my head in confidence "But Donnie what is this watch suppose to do exactly?"

I opened the watch to see it had a bunch of icons that were lighting up bright green. "It's going to hack into his emails so we can see what information we can find, and see if it links to Shredder", Donnie said

"Okay, so basically I use the watch to synch the emails on here and its pretty much a done deal right?", I asked

"Yes, but Skylar if you want to hack into the accounts you will have to get very close", Donnie said

"How close do I have to be?", I asked

"The watch needs to be at least three feet away from his iPad, iPhone, whatever device he might have", he said

"Skylar just be careful, you never know what could pop up or who is possibly guarding him where you can't see anyone", Mikey said, in a concerned voice

"Don't worry I got this in the bag, okay Nerdy Birdy and Cutie Pie good looking out, I will talk to you boys soon", I said, hanging up on my phone pulling out my headphones

I saw Stockman coming up the stairs as I kept my distance from another table. I saw him take out a iPad from a book bag and put it on the table opening it up. I opened up the watch to see if I could get an good connection from where I was sitting, but the watch said it was not in range. I took a shaky breath and I closed the watch and got up from my seat. "Stay calm Skylar, you can do this", I said, to myself in my mind

I walked over to where Stockman was sitting, trying to make myself not suspicious. "Um, excuse me are you-", I asked

"As much I would like to be someone that a girl like you might recognize, trust me you don't know who I am", he said, interrupting me about to go on about business

"You are Baxter Stockman", I said, making him suddenly look up at me surprised "You are one of the greatest scientists ever known to live, you are one of my favorites ever like Da Vinci, Galileo, Steve Jobs!"

I knew I had him now. "You are innovations have been the best ever and so inspirational! I am sorry I am so nervous I am a complete nerd!", I said, faking an exciting tone

"No please geek out please", he said, getting excited as me

"Oh thank you", I said, as he offered me a seat at the table "Well actually I am a nerd not a geek"

I opened up the watch as it began to synch the emails downloading on to the watch. "It's like the difference between Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter or Ted Talks and comic-"

"Comic con!", he said, finishing my sentence before letting out an obnoxious laugh

The downloading was near to completion before a man came out of nowhere to the table. "Dr. Stockman we just got the confirmation about the package is shipping later on tonight", he said

"Make sure that they track it every step of the way", Stockman said, handing him the iPad "I am done working for the night"

I started to panic as the download was near to complete before the man left with the iPad. The watch had a little icon pop up saying that the download was interrupted for the iPad being out of range.

"God damn it!", I said, under my breath

I saw the man walk away from the bar as I quickly turned off the watch seeing him go walking down the stairs, heading out towards the exit of the station. "Oh great, the one time when things don't go my way", I said, under my breath again

When the man left with the iPad Stockman turned back to face me I pulled out my phone improvising that I was taking a phone call. "Oh sorry, I have to take this is urgent, it's my boyfriend", I said

"Oh you have a boyfriend? Of course you do", he said, falling for it "But does your boyfriend know the difference between pie to the third decimal and pie to the seventh decimal?"

"You are truly an inspiration and one of the greatest scientists ever to have live", I said, quickly walking away

I quickly walked away out of view before walking half way down the stairs to see the man was walking towards the exit. I knew if he had exited with the iPad with the remaining information I knew we wouldn't be any closer to finding out if Stockman is working with Shredder.

"Crap! What do I do now?", I asked, myself quietly

I looked around and I heard some laughing and I saw some teenage girls wearing school uniform costumes posing with some boys wearing different kinds of Halloween costumes. I then looked over seeing a few shop stands with the same clothing that the girls were wearing. "Unless I got into a new look", I said

I quickly walked down the stairs and I started to wriggle myself out of the jacket of mine. I kept my eyes on the man that was walking further away from me and I threw my jacket in the trash as I made my way towards the stands. I kept my distance away hoping he wouldn't see me and I removed the glasses I was wearing off my face and without anyone looking I snatched a black skirt with blue and green stripes off its clip holder. I tossed the glasses away and I wrapped the skirt around my waist fastening it. I tugged off my larger skirt underneath the one over it and tossed it off and I grabbed a loose black silk jacket that was hanging on a chair.

I slid the smaller jacket over my shirt and I rolled up the sleeves up some till they covered the ends of the jacket. I then grabbed the shirt out of my skirt and I began to pull it up to where it showed part of my stomach and tied it up tight in a knot below my chest. I threw off the black wig I was wearing and I grabbed a long blonde wig that was on a stand as I threw my head back letting the hair flow. I quickly walked up towards the man I was following, knowing this disguise was going to be helpful. I grabbed a police officer cap off of one guy with a few girls and I placed it on the guy I was following on his head. "Check me out you guys, I got a sexy on cop on my hands, hope he doesn't arrest me", I said, in a flirting voice

The girls followed my act and got all gushy over him as I smiled as the plan was working. The girls got on either side of him as they were giggling like crazy. "Look at those muscles, am I right? Wow!", I said

A camera man then came in front of us as we posed for a photo. I held the watch behind the man as it finished downloading the rest of the information from Stockman's iPad to 100% and a little cartoon version of Donnie appeared on the watch making a little song that it was complete. I called Donnie on my phone putting my ear buds back in as I walked off outside the station, heading to the waiting area. "Skylar how did it go?", he asked

"Jackpot baby, that was too easy", I said "The best assignment I have ever had, I am going to open up the emails and see what I can find"

"Alright ada girl! We will be down in a few minutes, just stay where you are at it", Donnie said

"Gotcha, don't worry about that", I said "See you guys soon"

I hung up again and I transported the data off the watch towards my phone and I began to look into the emails. I started reading what was synced and one caught my eye, and I used my phone and snapped a photo of it. I then heard the sound of banging metal and looked up to see the boys coming down from the roof. "Woah Sky, looking hot!", Mikey said, looking at me with huge grin

"Oh sorry", I said, giggling "Had a bit of a backfire to the plan, but hey at least it worked"

"Sure good way doing it for a professional", Raph said, sounding intimidating towards me looking at the outfit

"Hey you are lucky I didn't dress up as a slutty prostitute", I said, cocking him an eyebrow, before turning away

"You just got spanked", Mikey said, with a sly grin

Raph growled holding up a fist before Mikey shrieked a bit, cowering away. Donnie rolled his eyes in annoyance before he came walking up to me. "Anyways, what did you find Sky?", Donnie asked

"Here I will show you", I said, opening up my phone

But suddenly the messages on my phone began to disappear and a red message appeared on the screen, saying "Messages Erasing".

"Wait hold on Donnie, the files are erasing", I said, trying to tap on any messages, trying to get them to open unsuccessfully "Its like they were on a self destruction program"

"Erasing?", he asked, trying to do the same thing I was doing "That's not good"

"But before they started erasing though, I did manage to get a picture of one that really made me suspicious", I said, going through my camera on my phone "It says she has left the hospital, she isn't coming back for the dosages, no idea where she has gone. No hospital records on her. New plan of action is to be made to carry out the execution in order to please the master, what does that mean?"

"Wait, new plan? Dosages of false treatment? Hospital records?", Donnie said, walking away some in a circle "I don't think those doctors were trying to cure her, they were trying to worsen it. They were trying to kill her by someone that gave those chemicals to the staff, but her body was too strong for it and now that she has left, they are now trying to find her and execute the new plan"

"Kill who Donnie?", Leo asked

He then turned to face us all slowly, looking concerned. "...Skylar", he said


	9. Chapter 9

Sky's Pov...  
I grunted in frustration as I did a stance in the dojo, trying to remember on how Splinter did that one move he was showing the boys just last week when I was watching them do practice. The boys weren't around since Splinter sent them off to some part of the sewers to do some stealth training and would be back later. I was too worried to be by myself after finding that death message in Stockman's emails. Here I felt somewhat better, but my mind was still spinning in my head. My stomach twisted in knots hearing those words from the email whisper in my head in a dark sinister voice that made my heart bang and sweat pour down my face. "Maybe it was like this...or maybe this", I said, getting more frustrated by the second "Damn it! They make it look simple! Why is it so hard?!"

I kicked my backpack with my foot as it went flying into the wall before hitting the ground with a thud. I sighed loudly as I rubbed my face, feeling tears coming on through my eyes. "Having trouble Skylar?", a voice asked

I gasped as I tried to make myself look decent when I whipped around to see Splinter at the dojo doors. "Oh hi Master Splinter", I said, with a soft low tone "And I think trouble is just an understatement"

He chuckled softly. "Only your footing was off", he said

"What?", I asked, confused

"Your footing was off, you were trying to perform one of my katas from my lessons and your footing was just off", he said, walking slowly up to me "Go into the position again"

I got quickly into the position again and he observed me on my stance. "Here move your right foot here and your left foot to your side", he said, pointing the positions with his tail

I did what he asked me to spreading my legs more till I was in a new position. "Now try it", he said, gesturing his arm

I nodded and I performed the kata that I first saw him do before bowing in respect to him. Splinter smiled at me, it looked like I did what I was meant to do. "Excellent my dear, you seem to have been listening to my lessons", he said

"I am pretty observant of my surroundings", I said, nodding in agreement

He chuckled softly again and my thoughts came back to my mind, only giving this proud moment a temporarily relief of what was going on. "Is something wrong Skylar?", he asked

"Yeah...there is", I said, looking away, holding my arm with my hand

"Here come with me, the tea should be ready now and we can talk", he said, turning away and walking to his room

I followed close behind him as we entered his room. I sat down on of the cushions that were on the floor. Splinter was at the kettle pouring the tea into little cups. The steam that flowed out let calming aroma fill up my nose and he gently placed the tray of tea and small dry biscuits on a plate on the floor between the two of us. "Please dear, tell me what is troubling you", he said, gently

I sighed. "It's about what happened last night", I said

"What do you mean?", he asked

"Well when we were trying to find out if Stockman was working with Shredder, there was something bad that I found in the emails that I hacked", I said "It has something to do with me"

"With you? Child what makes you think that is has something to do with you?", he asked, looking quite bewildered

"Donnie said so", I said "Think about it, I am no longer getting treatments at the hospital and they say they are on the hunt of some girl to execute her that stopped coming there, don't you think it would be too coincidental that it could be someone else other than me? Shredder has something to do with me, I am scared, I don't know what to do!"

I suddenly broke down in tears and Splinter pulled me immediately into his arms. I cried into his robe and his paw gently rubbed circles around my back as he rocked me gently side to side. "I don't know what to do", I said, shaking my head, shaking badly

"Dear child, you must not cry", he said, whispering into my ear "You can not let this fear cloud your vision and mind"

"Easier said than done", I said, whimpering

"I know, but you have to give everything that is inside of you to shut out the darkness and must stride towards the light", he said "Skylar, I made a promise to myself, when we first met on that night, after everything that you did for me, I would protect you as you did for me, always"

"But Splinter what if you are not there? You or the boys? I mean I don't have the skills or stamina to face someone that is highly skilled like you all. I mean I wouldn't stand a chance, I would be dead in seconds. I barely made it out of fights on the streets or even when I got nearly raped at the docks, before Mikey even came. How can I protect myself? My pets? My home? Everything that I have?"

"Remember what I told you on the night we met", he said "That deep in your heart you are a fighter and you are stronger than what you think you are. I know you are frightened by the events that have been placed in front of you, but you must know that you are not facing this alone. You are apart of this family now and family protects each other from the greatest of threats"

"What are we going to do? I don't even know where to begin", I asked, looking up at him

"Maybe we can, make you stronger", he said

"How?", I asked

"I can prepare you for such of these dangers that will come by training you", he said

"What are you saying?", I asked, pulling away

"What I mean is my dear, is I want to train you in the art of Ninjitsu, like what I am training my sons in, for you to become a kunoichi, a female ninja", he said

"You mean it? I can learn what you guys know and do?", I asked, feeling the shock wash over me

"Yes, but I must warn you it will be the hardest thing you will ever do in your life. It will drain you physically, mentally and spiritually. But with the proper training done by me and the practice of fighting with my sons, you should be able to succeed. From watching how observant you are and the skills that you performed doing the kata you just did, I would see you have a natural ability to learn quickly as well as performing with precision", he said

The smile on my face continued to grow with the words of confidence that Splinter was giving me. "I am hoping you will take upon this offer Skylar, but the choice is yours", he said "Do you accept?"

"Yes! Of course!", I said, quickly "I am willing to do it!"

"Very good, we will start to the first steps of your training to become a kunoichi", he said

I was swelling up with happiness and I was smiling so widely that I thought my face might just burst from the excitement. I then quickly hugged Splinter again so tight that I thought I might be hurting him, but he gave me a hug in return, running his paw down my bandanna and patted my head. It was like I was trying to put so many words into the hug, but I think he understood as he chuckled. "You are many ways like Michelangelo", he said

"Hopefully that's a good thing", I said, smiling innocently

"Yes", he said, with a nod and chuckle "We will start your training tomorrow"

"Sounds great, I will be looking forward to it", I said, with a smile

"Good, you may go on my dear, I shall see you in a while, I would like to get to my meditation", he said

"Oh of course", I said, standing up "I will let you be, and Splinter..."

"Mmmmm?", he asked, looking up at me

"Thank you", I said, softly

He nodded with a smile and I slowly left his bedroom to let him have some privacy. I felt like a sense of relief washed over me now, now that I was going to be learning how to defend myself and I was going to be protected by my now, true family, one that I wish I could of been with many years ago. I went into the kitchen and made myself a glass of Orange Crush, that Mikey showed me his secret stash was behind the fridge. Never to tell Raph, haha! I got myself comfortable on the couch just as the boys came in from the sewers. "We are home!", Mikey called out

"Hey guys!", I called out, still staying on the couch

"Hey Skylar", Leo said

"Hey Sky", Donnie said

"Hey Bushido, hey Poptart", I said, leaning over the back of the couch

They both stopped and looked at me, with Leo smirking at me. "I am assuming that those are our nicknames you gave us?", he asked

"Hey first guess", I said, sarcastically

"Nailed it", he said, doing a fist bump "Why those may we ask?"

"Well I know you are into the whole Japanese arts and I read a little about Bushido over the weekend, and Donnie I did hear from Mikey that you lick the icing off the pop tarts and put them back in the box", I said, giggling a little at the last part

He blushed furiously and looked at Mikey with a growl, while Mikey just shrugged and laughed. "Dude! You promised you would keep that between us and the fence post!", he said, clenching his fist

"Oopsy it slipped", he said, grinning innocently

I laughed. "Don't worry I won't say nothing", I said, crossing my heart while holding up my hand giggling "I promise"

He then shrugged and smiled. "Alright I trust you, you and I are having a little talk later", he said, eyeing Mikey pointing at him with squinted eyes

Mikey just laughed and I giggled as the boys left with Leo giving me a noogie on the head, chuckling softly to himself. "Dude I am never going to get over that", I said, as Mikey flopped himself on the couch beside me giggling

"That will stay with us forever", he said, with a smile "And move on to future generations"

I giggled as I leaned back against the pillows. "Wait, what are you doing here? I thought you had work today", Mikey said, looking a bit confused

"I called in sick today", I said, shrugging a little frowning "Was just not feeling up to it, you know, after last night"

He frowned as well. "Oh yeah, that", he said "How are you doing? I mean I was worried about you during training"

He gave me a look of concern as I sat up and sighed softly. "Well at first I was scared, like really scared", I said, truthfully "I mean out of all people, you never expect to find yourself in a position where you are being hunted and your life is on the line and anything can happen at any moment. You just can't imagine that"

"I know, I didn't think that too till I was old enough to understand", he said, nodding "It feels like you are just trapped and we have been doing that for years"

"That must feel awful", I said "I don't even think I can ever go through something like that for that long"

"You get used to it after a while", he said, shrugging a little frowning "Wish it didn't have to be like this"

"I'm sorry, that shouldn't be happening to you all, not for what you do", I said

He still frowned, looking away some, and out of bravery I crawled over to him on the couch and I placed my hand over the top of his own that was resting on the top of his thigh. He slowly looked up to me and a soft smile appeared on his face. "It will be okay, things will change for the better for you guys", I said, softly "I know it will"

He placed his hand on top of mine as a smile came to mine. "Thanks for caring", he said

"That's what friends are for", I said, softly

We both smiled at each other and even though it was simple, the feeling of his hand over mine was so comforting, like he just takes the pain away and brings happiness in my heart. My feelings for him were starting to become stronger and stronger with each time we spend together, and possibly they were going to be showing fairly sooner than I think. Without warning I felt his fingers entangling around mine, like when we were up on the rooftop watching the sunrise, and unconsciously mine wrapped around his too. My heart began to pump hard fast as I looked down blushing pink in my cheeks with my eyes closing, feeling very bashful. I didn't want him to see me looking like this. But then I felt a new feeling, his hand gently going up my arm till it reached my shoulder and cautiously across my jaw, bringing my head slowly up making my eyes flutter open. It then made its way to my cheek touching it with care.

It seemed Mikey didn't care at all about me looking the way that I did. I couldn't help but lean into his touch just smiling, loving the warmth of him on my skin. "Skylar, there something, I have been wanting to tell you", he said

"Yes?", I asked, softly

"Skylar the truth is that I...", he said

But before Mikey could even finish his sentence, the sound of stomping feet was heard through the living room. It caused us to both pull away from the continuous bouncing on the couch. "What the heck?!", Mikey said

"If this is an earthquake then this is not going to end well!", I said, bouncing around like a ball

"Mikey!", a familiar grouchy voice yelled

"Oh great", Mikey said, annoyed

"Enter the dragon", I said, rolling my eyes

Raph came stomping into the living room with a set of what it appeared to be pink dumbbells in his fists. "Would you quit stamping your feet like that Raph?", I called out, gripping the couch to keep myself from bouncing less "You are making us sea sick!"

"You seriously got to be kidding me?!", Raph said, towering over Mikey "You sprayed paint my dumbbell set pink?!"

"You don't even use those weights anymore dude", Mikey said, arguing back "Besides what difference does it make? They say tough guys wear pink"

He couldn't help but snicker but that just seemed to fuel Raph's fire. He then yanked him up by his chest strap getting him face to face with Raph. "You touch my stuff again and I will be putting your shell on ice!", he said

I gulped in fear, I have never seen someone act out that violently before. But the thought of what happened before, I was not going to let that happen and a stern look came to face as I stood up from the couch. "Leave him alone Raph!", I said

He ever so slowly looked at me with a dark look, even though it was really intimidating, I wasn't going to back down. "You talking to me?", he asked, shoving Mikey to the couch

"I said your name did I not? Or you just too hard headed to hear anything?", I asked, crossing my arms

"Can't you not stop having a smart ass comment for once?", he said, towering over me

"Can't you not stop being a stick in the mud for a minute?", I said, retorting back "It's just a harmless prank, get over it"

"You can't just jump in between us like that and say it's not a big deal!", he said, growling

"Yeah well I will be jumping in if it does involve you hurting your own brother and my friend", I said, cocking an eyebrow "So I can butt in if I want to"

"Who do you even think you are?", he asked, with a harsh voice

"Someone who is clearly standing up for someone else that needs it", I said, glaring "And you won't be doing anything to him, for he is your little brother and your fellow teammate and you should treat him with respect"

"Not like you have been doing around with your attitude", he said, scoffing back

"Mmmmm maybe I should start doing my courtesy around you for practice", I said, sarcastically turning around and walking off

"Don't turn your back on me little girl!", he called out

"Oh no Raphael, it should be you that doesn't turn your back on me", I said, looking over my shoulder before turning forward

He growled loudly as he zoomed past me and skid right in front of me stopping me dead in my tracks. "Is that a challenge?!", he said, with anger in his eyes

"Temper temper, I would never dream of ever fighting you", I said, casually

He actually looked at me a bit surprised. "Such a pity, why not?", he asked

"Cause with size alone you can cause fatal injury with a single blow and I prefer not to die today by getting beaten up by a giant reptile", I said "Since I have better outlook on life now and more hope than ever, I intend not to lose it"

There was an intense deep stare down between the two of us, it seemed like it could go on for a long time, but it didn't take Raph long to leave in frustration growling low in anger. I kept my eye on him till he was out of sight before I sighed softly. "Wow, that was insane", Mikey said, coming up behind me as I turned around

"Yeah, it was, to be quite honest", I said, nodding

"Dude I have never seen anything like that before, not even with him and Leo fight", he said, looking shocked "He would never back down from a fight like that"

"I thought he would of kept going too", I said "It kind of surprised me he backed off, are you okay?"

"Yeah I am fine don't worry about it, you okay? Are you alright?", he asked, in concern

"Don't worry about me, it's not the first time that I have been in a situation like this", I said "How do you guys even put up with this?"

"You kind of get used to it after growing up together for eighteen years, but there are days were it can get out of hand and sometimes even worse", he said

"I don't know what's up with him, but he seriously needs to lose the attitude", I said, looking slightly annoyed

"I am sorry Sky", he said, looking sympathetic

"Don't worry about it", I said, shaking my head and stroking his shoulder "Hey I think I know a way to get over this whole nonsense"

"How?", he asked

"Ever heard of the game Mad Libs before?", I asked

"Mad Libs?", he asked, looking baffled

"No way! Don't tell me you never heard of Mad Libs?", I asked, in shock

"Not a clue", he said, shaking his head

"Dude oh my god! Where have you been?!", I said, doing a playful dramatic tone

"Apparently under the streets", he said, following my tone with a chuckle

"Only one of the best games in the world", I said "Its too funny! The guys showed me this at work and oh it's a gut buster of some of the things that come up"

"That sounds like fun!", he said

"Oh it is, here you need to see these guys on YouTube who did it, they are freaking hilarious", I said, pulling out my phone

After showing Mikey a few videos of the Mad Libs by Joe Santagato, the both of us were bursting with laughter leaning against each other. "Oh my god that was awesome!", he said, still calming down from laughing so hard

"Funny every single time, never gets old", I said, giggling

"Oh my god this is even funnier than pretty much anything", he said

"Hey I have an idea, why not make up our own Mad Libs?", I asked "I have my very own Mad Libs book that we can do it in"

"Yeah! Totally dude! That would be awesome! We can be exactly like those guys!", he said, with a beaming smile appearing on his face

"Here I'll look up the sheets from the book and you get the water!", I said, running to the dojo to get my backpack

"That is going to be fun!", he said, running to the kitchen

I got my backpack and I pulled out my Mad Libs book and went to the dinning table in the kitchen and Mikey came by with huge jars of water. "You could of just grabbed some cups, you didn't need to get jars", I said, cocking an eyebrow at him

"Oh well, too late", he said, giving me a grin

I laughed a little as he sat beside me. "Alright don't look at the paper while I write down the words or I will get slappy with you", I said, smirking "

"Oh sure, I am so afraid", he said, shaking his head, sarcastically

"Alright when I say a type of word you say it and I will write it down and once we completed it, you will have to fill your mouth with water and if you laugh you lose, first one, adjective?", I said

"Smooshy", he said

"Smooshy? What the heck?", I said, causing us both to snicker "Another adjective?"

"Sparkling", he said

"Part of the body?", I asked

"Butt!", he said

We both started laughing out loud as I wrote down the word. "Okay noun?", I asked

"Hot air balloons!", he said

"Adverb?", I asked

"Girlishly", he said

"What?", I asked, giggling "Okay another adverb?"

"Hungrily", he said

"Plural noun?", I asked

"Lava lamps", he said

"Adjective?", I asked

"Chubby", he said

I giggled again, before we broke out in laughter again. "Verb?", I asked

"Boogie", he said

"Plural noun?", I asked

"Hot Pockets", he said

"Part of the body?", I asked

"Arm pit!", he said

"Adjective?", I asked, giggling from his last answer

"Spunky", he said

"Type of liquid?", I asked

"Grape Juice", he said

"Noun?", I asked

"Hamster", he said

"Another noun?", I asked

"Fu Man Chu", he said

"I am assuming you got that from Tim McGraw", I said, giggling "Animal plural?"

"Ninja Turtles", he said

We both laughed again. "Noun?", I asked

"Mud pit", he said

"Part of the body?", I asked

"Smelly foot", he said

"Done!", I said, writing down the last word

"Thank god", he said

"Water in", I said, pointing to the jar

He took a big jug of water filling up his cheeks. "Alright this is called "A Good Night's Sleep", Here are five smooshy suggestions", I said, giggling before Mikey already squirted out a bit of water from his mouth "Dude already? Here are five smooshy suggestions to follow if you want an sparkling night's sleep. Number one, open a window and fill your butt with fresh hot air balloons!"

Mikey started laughing hard as I leaned back in the chair, as he struggled not to spit up the water. "Okay that's a weird remedy", I said, giggling "Open a window and fill your butt with fresh hot air balloons"

He laughed again but kept calm. "And then exhale girlishly", I said, doing a mocking tone of a girly voice, which made Mikey laugh again hitting the table with his hand "Number two, exercise hungrily at least fifteen lava lamps a day. Doctors and chubby therapists suggest a combination of push ups and boogie ups, jumping Hot Pockets, and of course deep arm pit bends!"

With each one that I said, Mikey struggled before he gave out at the last part and I laughed as he just drenched himself in water. "I'm sorry!", he said, laughing uncontrollably

"Dude you just soaked my boots!", I said, sarcastically sounding annoyed "Okay number three, drink a spunky glass of warm grape juice!"

I laughed out loud as I doubled over giggling and Mikey looking like he was going to explode again so soon from filling his mouth back up with water again. "A half hour before turning off your hamster and going to Fu Man Chu!"

I suddenly stood up from my chair as Mikey doubled over spitting out the water from laughing as I literally screamed in laughter. "Oh my god, I can't take this!", I said, laughing sitting back down again "If all else fails, count Ninja Turtles jumping over a mud pit!"

We both laughed more but not as hard. "Warning: Never go to bed on a full armpit!", I said

Mikey gave out and he had spit the water all over the table as laughter filled the room with us leaning against each other. "Oh my god, dudette I am exhausted", he said, with his face looking tired from laughing

"Dude! Your face is as red a beet!", I said, giggling

"Alright, let's see if we can get a few yucks out of you", he said, grabbing the book

"You try", I said, sarcastically

"Ooooo here is a good one", he said, flipping to one page "Alright adjective?"

"Stupid", I said

"Ouch harsh", he said, writing it down

I giggled. "Verb ending in "ING"?", he asked

"Yawning", I said

"Another verb ending in "ING?", he asked

"Belching!", I said

We both giggled. "Like a sailor", I said, adding on which made us both laugh

"Plural noun?", he asked

"Banshees", I said

"What the heck is that?", he asked, looking confused yet amused

"It's some lady I guess who just screams her head off probably from looking at herself in the mirror after what she sees in the morning", I said, shrugging with sarcasm

We both laughed uncontrollably as Mikey almost fell out of his chair. "Okay, um noun?", he asked

"Snail", I said

"Another noun?", he asked

"Dude", I said

"Another noun?", he asked

"Pizza", I said

"Ooooo that sounds good right about now", he said, licking his lips hungrily

"Great! Now I even made myself hungry", I said, throwing my head back

He chuckled. "Noun again?", he asked

"Whoopee cushion", I said

"Another noun?", he asked

"Blubber", I said

"Another noun?", he asked

"Hair Ball", I said

"Plural noun?", he asked

"Stooges", I said

We both giggled. "Plural noun?", he asked

"Pigs", I said

"Another noun?", he asked

"Sea Biscuit", I said

"An adverb?", he asked

"Slowly", I said

"Verb?", he asked

"Smack!", I said

He laughed out loud as I giggled. "Noun?", he asked

"Inflatable pool", I said

"Noun last one", he said

"Brain!", I said

"Done!", he said, writing done the last word

"Thank god!", I said

"Down the hatch", he said, pointing to the water

I started to drink up the water when I suddenly burped out of nowhere making me spray out the water. Mikey started laughing uncontrollably hearing the whole thing as I looked at him with a cocked eyebrow. "Dude it sounded like your throat farted", he said

"Oh shut up", I said, smirking, as I splashed him with him some water from the jar

"Hey!", he said, trying to block it as it soaked the side of his head

I laughed sarcastically before filling my cheeks up with water again. "Okay, so this one is called "A Speeding Ticket"", he said "To be performed by two stupid people in this room"

I giggled already struggling to keep the water in. "Officer: Sir, do you realize how fast you were yawning?"

I spit out a little as I held my mouth with my hands laughing as Mikey looked at me amused. "No, how fast was I belching?"

He laughed as I giggled uncontrollably. "You were going fifty banshees an hour in a 25 snail zone!", he said

I couldn't hold it in any longer as I sprayed the water out of mouth and we both just broke down in laughter. "Oh my god!", I said, giggling

"Dude this is a weird cop", Mikey said, laughing

I tried filling up my mouth again as Mikey continued on. "I'm sorry. I'm nervous. I'm taking my dude to the hospital. She's about to have an pizza!", he said

I sprayed out the water again, going into another fit of laughter as Mikey laughed seeing myself. "You also went through a red whoopee cushion and failed to stop a blubber sign. May I see your driver's hairball?", he said

We both laughed and I tried filling my mouth with more water we looked at each other and we just laughed even more struggling so hard. "Yes. Oh my! I left it in my other pair of stooges. You see, my wife started to have labor pigs and I wanted to get her to the Sea Biscuit as slowly as possible!", he said "Oh my god!"

I leaned back in the chair, my cheeks were hurting from laughing so much as I hit the table with my fist. "Your wife? I don't smack your wife!", he said

I then spit up some water on my mouth as Mikey just started laughing again, pointing at me. "Dudette you look a mess!", he said "She's right there in the back inflatable pool. Oh my! Would you believe I forgot my brain, too!", he said

I sprayed out the water just laughing so hard. "You sure did!", I said, laughing

We both doubled over and I fell unexpectedly out of the chair going upside down. "Woah!", I said

Mikey chuckled as he looked over at me. "You okay?", he asked

"A-okay compadre", I said, doing an "ok" sign with my fingers giggling

"That was funny!", he said

"Always a crack every time", I said, climbing back up to my seat

"Well looks like neither one of us won", he said

"9 out of 10 times usually no one really does", I said, shrugging "It's just usually ends up making a mess out of yourself and watching others do it too"

We both laughed again for the millionth time as I got up and grabbed a few cans of Orange Crush from behind the fridge, tossing a can to him. "I must admit this was the best game I have ever tried with someone", I said, clipping the can open

"Whoever invented it was a genius", he said

"Tell me about it", I said, taking a chug, cooling off my throat

I checked my phone to see that it was getting close to six and I would be having to go home to do some bills, finishing up some sketches and get my pets taken care of. "I hate to short cut this fun and amusing time, but I need to get going, I have some stuff I got to do", I said, getting up

"Awwww do you have to?", he asked, giving me the sad puppy eyes

"Unfortunately yes, I don't want to but it has to get done", I said "If I still want my place and my job"

"Ugh why must the fun come to end?", he asked, moaning in annoyance

"You said it brother", I said "But they say all good things do come to an end eventually"

"Bummer, oh well, I will walk you up to cover", he said

"Thanks", I said, with a soft smile

I gathered all my things as we left the lair and walked down the tunnel that lead up to the cross streets near home. "Hey I am sorry you had to deal with Raph again, he has been badgering you quite a lot", he said

"It's okay, besides I have a feeling that I might be in for more disputes with him", I said

"I just don't know what is up with him", he said, shaking his head in denial

"Well it could be a lot of things up his shell, but pray to god I can hold my ground", I said

"How do you even do it?", he asked "I couldn't even do it without getting beaten to a pulp"

"Call it years of experience living with my mother", I said, with a nod and smile

"Gotcha", he said, snapping his fingers nodding in agreement "Next time I will step in so it won't happen again, make sure he doesn't go off the ricta scale of anger"

"Well if he tries anything I am going to sew him into his bed sheets and beat him with a bag of oranges", I said, with a cocky grin

He chuckled. "You come up with the funniest things sometimes", he said, snickering

"I know right and I just thought of that off the top of my head", I said, giggling

I climbed up the ladder up to the manhole cover above my head and pushed it up and over till I got myself out, sitting at the edge. It was close to being dark outside, luckily home was just a hop, skip and a jump away from here. Mikey appeared just at the opening but not enough to where he could be easily noticed by someone. "We have to do another round of Mad Libs, that was the best game ever!", he said

"Yeah totally! Maybe we can get one of the bros to join in too, it's fun when its with three people", I said

"Is that tank Donnie gave you doing you any good?", he asked

"I honestly think it is, I mean it helps where I don't need a breathing tank at night when I sleep anymore and I only have to use it on certain days", I said "So I think it's doing wonders"

"I just hope we will find a way to cure your leukemia", he said

"Oh Mikey believe me, I know", I said "I want it as bad as you, but I know we will find it"

Mikey carefully grabbed my hand and took it into his own entangling his fingers around it. "I have good faith in it", he said, with a smile

I smiled blushing pink and could feel my heart just flutter of out its place. "Well I will see you tomorrow after work", I said, softly feeling slightly bashful

"Yeah...yeah I will see you around", he said, softly

We both smiled and just as Mikey was about to let go out of my hand and climb back down into the sewers, I grabbed his hand and pulled him up to me quickly and I kissed his forehead softly. He pulled back looking at me stunned but I just smiled at him lovingly. "Thanks Mikey...for everything", I said, softly, before getting up

I walked away with a happy smile on my face, finally I let my feelings release from being stopped by the brick damn that has built up inside of me for many years, making it collapse and crumble more. My true colors were finally showing. "I love you", I said, silently to myself

I decided to take the long route home since it was just too good of a night to pass up. My chore list could wait just a little bit longer. When I walked down the sidewalk the street lamps were starting to flicker on and the last pink and orange clouds of the sunset were disappearing. I felt a vibration in my phone and I pulled it out my jacket pocket to see I got a text message from a newsletter I signed up for about a shelter that was near by home. I clicked the article to see a story about a recent discovery of 20 fighting dogs were brought into the shelter. They showed pictures of some that were badly wounded from fighting such as bleeding mouths, punctured heads and legs and even scars from previous fights. It made me really sad to know that were in this condition and that most of them had been put down due to high aggression. This is one of the things that makes me very angry that animals have to pay with their lives for something that they didn't do and that the humans get away with it. That's what I hate most about the human race. I hope that when their days come they will burn in hell. Scrolling down to the bottom of the article they had another set of photos of a dog that was up for adoption from that same group. He looked in pretty bad shape and just looking at them could never be erased from your mind. Checking the time to see it was 6:30 I still had time before the shelter closed. I then decided to take a look for myself.

Walking only one more block I made my way up to the shelter doors and made my way inside. I passed through the adoptable dogs section and right when I opened the door to go to the kennels, a bone chilling howl had greeted me.

If you are ever in a horror movie and they talk about the ghosts that are howling, that's what it sounded like. It sent shivers down my spine. I slowly walked following the sound till I came to the end of the rows of kennels. What I saw was a poor sad soul. A young pit bull, didn't even look like maybe three years old, that was gray in color with white patches underneath his belly with light brown eyes, was sitting at the door of the kennel slouched facing the concrete wall of the kennel.

I was kind of shocked to see this creature covered in scars, bite marks and wounds like that were just recently taken care of, but not so greatly. He looked in pretty bad shape. My heart went out to him immediately. I crouched down till I sat down in front of the metal bars, crossing my legs. He didn't even stir as he whimpered and grunted in the saddest sounding way. He was just a broken beautiful spirit.

I made a few soft noises to try and gain his attention, but all he did was just grunt. "What's the matter sweetie?", I asked, softly "You don't look like someone has been taking care of you very good huh?"

He grunted in sadness as I made a few more noises to make him look at me. "What happened baby? Come here", I said, rubbing my fingers together extending my arm out "Will you come say hi?"

He grunted more and shifted against the wall, he made it look like it was just painful to even move a muscle. I shifted closer as I got my fingers in between the bars. "Come here, it's okay", I said "I won't hurt you baby"

He looked at me again as he shifted a little but still kept still in his spot. But then I saw a good sign that I was getting his attention, his tail thumped against the ground. "Oh I see your tail wagging", I said, smiling "Oh look at all those ouchies on you"

I did some more noises trying to get him to closer to me since he was too far for me to reach through the bars. "Come on, come on, come on sweetie", I said, rubbing my fingers again as the dog shifted and grunted more, but still no movement "Oh what's wrong honey, what's all those grunts you are making huh? Come on baby"

The dog finally made some movement by laying down against the wall he was leaning against and I then tried to reach my fingers underneath the small opening of the metal door. "I can't reach you, these bars are too thick", I said, trying to reach in further

His tail wagged a bit more once my fingers were able to touch a bit of his muzzle gently. "Come here", I said, gently tapping my hand on the ground and he started to lay up straight "Come here, I knew there was a spark in you, you are almost there, come here, come here baby"

He looked to be struggling just to stand alone, but I saw the determination in his eyes as he made the tiny steps to reach me. "Oh good boy, there we go, hello angel", I said, as he laid down in front of me and I reached through the bars to pet his head

The dog gently licked my fingers and nuzzled against it, it was probably the first time he ever felt a good pet. "See you are not aggressive, you are were just scared", I said "Yeah I would be scared too if I was in your place, hi"

He gently laid his head on my hand as I scratched behind his ear. He looked content you could see a smile form on his face. "You poor baby, what happened? Who did this to you? Somebody hurt you", I said

He looked up at me as I leaned over in the kennel and he gave me this look, like a look of gratefulness. It was like saying thank you, for giving him affection and love. Something in his eyes tells me that a painful and sad story, one that any animal should never go through, no matter what. "You have a had pretty hard rough start huh?", I asked "I know that feeling, it's good huh?"

I looked up to the kennel card of the dog's cage again and saw that word "aggressive". Honestly that is what gets me now these days about pit bulls, they are so misunderstood and judged before even given a chance. It makes me to sad to know barely anyone believes the truth behind these strong but yet gentle and beautiful creatures. They deserve to be respected and love like any other breed of dog. It reminded me of the boys, they are misunderstood and behind what people believe is scary is true good nature. I knew with this sign on his paper, he would obviously be overlooked by potential adopters and I knew that he wouldn't last here for long. I then looked back at the pit bull and he looked probably the most happiest in his life and I knew I couldn't leave him here. I had to do something for him.

"What do you think pumpkin? Want to come home with me?", I asked

His tail wagged almost immediately with excitement hearing the sentence. He sat up and began to lean against the bars standing on his hind legs, already to go. "Yeah you ready? Want to come home? Want to come home?", I asked

He barked and I laughed. "Okay let me go get someone to come and get you out", I said

I found someone to take him out and his whole demeanor changed as he was pulling the volunteer so hard to get out of this prison. It was like a break for freedom, kind like what I had experienced years ago. After filling out the paperwork and stopping by at a local shop for a few supplies for him, a new chapter in his life had begin.

After getting home, he seemed to be more calmer as we walked inside the peaceful cozy space. Of course my other pets were a bit shy of him at first, but after a good slow introduction, he seemed to fit right in and the start of new relationships was beginning. I placed his giant circular bed in the corner of my bedroom as he slowly got on top of it and immediately curled up on it, snuggling deep. "Yeah much better than that concrete kennel huh?", I asked, petting his head

But once he looked up at me, I could see his beautiful eyes were getting watery. He looked like he was about to cry. Just from looking at him almost made me break down in tears too. It's like they were tears of joy that welled up and some gently strayed falling down his face. Finally he was given a chance to live the life that he deserved to have, to be filled with unconditionally love, to be the dog that he wants to be. I carefully wrapped my arms around his neck bringing him into a hug and I could feel his head press against mine. "Don't worry, no one is going to hurt you anymore", I said "You are safe, you are my good boy, you are my good Buddha"

This day went from dark and with no hope...to brighter and promising.


	10. Chapter 10

Mikey's Pov...  
I nearly lost my footing on the ladder when I climbed back down after I felt Skylar kiss me. As soon as I barely got to the bottom of the ladder, I did end up slipping on a wet slippery bar and ended up falling to the ground on my shell. But I didn't feel any pain and even if I did I wouldn't care, I was too much in shock. Looking up to the manhole cover above me where I last saw her, my palms were sweating, my heart was racing a so fast in a minute and I felt my stomach twist up in knots, but not of pain but from excitement. "Wow! That...was...awesome!", I said, sounding breathless

I couldn't even move from the ground, it felt like I was just a big pile of melted butter. I knew it! I knew that there was something between the two of us! I knew she had feelings for me! Out of all those times that brothers told me that no one would understand or have feelings for a giant mutant like we are, that theory was finally proven wrong! "Cowabunga", I said, throwing an fist in the air

I was able to get myself to my feet before leaning against the wall looking all day dreaming about what just happened. I never thought in a million years this would ever happen to me, but now that it has oh it was just the best feeling in the world to feel that kind of love from someone. So that's what it feels like! By the time I was able to get myself home, I was grinning from ear to ear and I didn't even noticed that I bumped into my brother coming from the bedroom. "Watch it you numbnut!", he said, sounding all grouchy "Did she finally leave?"

I snapped myself out of my daze when I heard him say those words and I had about had enough of this abuse. Sure at first I would never pick a fight but after gaining some confidence in myself, I wasn't going to let that go unanswered. I glared at him.

"You know you have been hard on Skylar from day one for no apparent reason", I said, crossing my arms "What gives?"

"For no apparent reason? How about you going out of the shadows where you could be seen, hanging out with someone you barely know, sneaking out, and worst risking your own life for some stranger that could be a danger to all of us", he said, arguing back

"She is not making me do those things! I have a mind of my own! I am not a baby! I can do what I want and you can't control me!", I said "And what's the big deal on meeting another human? We met April!"

"Well of course numbskull she has known us since we were not even mutated and the fact that she saved our lives from being burnt up in flames and this one is just bringing trouble!", he said

"She had no choice over what happened on that night she got attacked, saving my life and all of your lives from the Foot, and the fact that she is being hunted for some reason by our enemy!", I said "She only did it cause she cares and I know for a fact that she isn't what you always thought she was!"

"You don't need to bring more people down crawling in our home and bringing more danger!", he said "We already have enough problems!"

"You should of not been so controlling over me when I was little, I could of done a lot of things by myself!", I said

"It would of always ended up in disaster anyways, no logic up in that big head of yours", he said, hitting my head with the back of his hand "Besides it would always ended up with you feeling low and gloomy"

"So what?!", I said, throwing my arms in frustration

"What is this all of sudden? You have always have been told that they wouldn't care or accept us! And yet still don't listen!", he said

"People are not always the same! There are good ones out there just like April! I am changing and you are taking out your anger on the wrong kind of person who actually cares about us, it's insulting me!", I said

"Fine!", he said, throwing his hands up in the air "Then whatever the reason, you are becoming rebellious and riskier than before"

"Speak for yourself, we gained back a family member, a new home, I gained a new friend, you can't stand anybody else being happy" I said, glaring

"That's not true!", he said, pointing at me

"She is my best friend and she is not going anywhere, and you better start treating her right!", I said "Or you and I are going to be having some problems!"

I walked away abruptly not giving him any time to say anything. I didn't know why he was treating Skylar like this and it was getting rather annoying and it was just plain out rude. I mean he wasn't even this harsh towards April after we found out that she was the one who saved us from the fire years ago. I just don't get it. I went into the bedroom that we shared and crashed on my lower bunk and that's when I heard my phone chime and screen light up, as I reached over and grabbed it. "Hey I got home safe"

I smiled seeing it was from my sweet love. "That's good :) when do you think we can meet up again?"

"Mmmmmm well I don't have work tomorrow :) why don't you guys come by for dinner and a movie?"

I smiled brightly to the idea and how I was eager to see her again, especially after she kissed me. "Totally dudette! 3 3 3 sounds like a plan to me! I will let the guys know and we will be right over!"

"Lol coolio :) alright I will see you then 3 ;) Cutie Pie", she texted

Seeing her texts made me immediately forget about the confrontation with Raph. From seeing her smile, hearing her voice or us texting, it always brought a smile to my face every time, really truly smile. I didn't know that meeting someone like her could change me. After hearing about her story, her cancer and everything that she had go through, it made me have a better understanding about things around me and inspired me to stand up for myself when things would get rough. She was really being an inspiration to me and to my family and we have almost all of us come to love her, especially me. This girl really meant so much to me and I was determined to keep her safe, help her battle with this cancer and help her survive. I love her so much.

Sky's Pov...  
I was making sure that my apartment was cleaned up before the boys were showing up. I had gotten my fish and rats fed and I fed my dog in my room since he was still having some trust issues of being out in the rest of my place, but I was just giving him all the time and space that he needed. I fixed up the throw pillows on the couch and rearranged the roses I had gotten earlier in the vase on the dinning table. When I heard the footsteps on the roof above I giggled getting an idea, as I shut off the lights with only the scented candles I lit up lighting up the dark space. I climbed up the wall using a chair and I gripped on to the railing on top of the ceiling waiting for the boys to come in through the window. I saw the boys jumping on to my fire escape as I hid myself higher on the ceiling as Mikey used the key I gave him to unlock my window and the boys one by one come climbing inside. "Skylar?", Mikey called out

"Anyone home?", Leo called out

I struggled to control my snickering but it was almost giving me away as they looked around confused. "Get a little closer", I whispered to myself "Closer Mikey"

Mikey was getting right under me and that's when I pounced on top of his shoulders silently, giving a pressure point to the back of his neck before jumping down and sweeping him off his feet, keeping him pinned with my knee. He had let out a shriek and he had tried to whack me with a nunchuck before I twisted his wrist releasing his grip snatching it away when he had hit the floor. I heard Leo and Donnie yell out trying to pull out their weapons before I used one of the ninja stars Mikey had given me to hit the light switch across the room.

I laughed as I twirled the nunchuck in my hand. "Gotcha!", I said, laughing

"Not cool dudette!", Mikey said "You nearly scared the shell out of me!"

"Jeez and I thought every ninja was suppose to be prepared for any kind of attack", I said, smirking, twirling the weapon around faster before tossing it in the air before catching it

"Touché", he said, crossing his arms trying to give a straight face but ended up smiling at the end

I laughed and I offered him my hand to help him up to his feet. "I am just pulling your leg, I knew it was you guys anyways, just thought I get in some extra practice", I said

"Oh sure and what better way to do it then on your dinner guests", Donnie said, with a smirk sounding sarcastic

"You are getting better on your sneak attacks Sky", Leo said. sheathing his katanas

"I guess those Ninjitsu lessons with Splinter are really starting to pay off, besides that is getting back at for when you scared me at the parlor", I said, giving Mikey a smirk

"It was worth it", he said, shrugging smiling "Hey, I thought that was for when I caught you on my skateboard?"

"Oh I still yet to have plan my revenge for that one, I would keep my eyes open if I were me", I said, cocking my eyebrows

Leo and Donnie began to snicker while Mikey squeaked in fright. "And that goes for you both too", I said, smirking at them both

They both stopped quickly, trying to make it look like they weren't doing anything, before I let out a laugh. I then noticed at the corner of my eye my cat jumped on to the back of the couch, and with Leo's shell turned against her she began to swat at his hanging mask tails. "Don't look now Leo but I think someone likes playing with your mask tails", I said, pointing behind him giggling

He slowly turned around and Kisa was standing on top of her hind legs meowing, resting her paws on his chest. "Oh hi there little guy, what's your name?", he asked, as he petted her along her back as she purred loudly

She meowed before jumping up in his arms as he caught her and she began to rub against his face. "Oh my gosh, you are too adorable", he said, scratching her under her chin while snuggled his neck "You are like the most affectionate cat I ever met"

"I would say she is too, wouldn't surprise me if she was in the record books of affection, her name is Kisa", I said, smiling

"Hi Kisa, she is really beautiful", he said, as she curled up in his arms looking over his shoulder

"She is, she is my baby", I said, scratching her ear

I then noticed it was just only the three of them. "Where's Raph?", I asked, curiously

"Oh well...he...kind of is", Mikey said, trying to explain not making it not obvious

"In a bad mood again?", I asked

"Yup", he said, quickly

"Figures", I said, rolling my eyes and hitting my head with my hand

"We tried to get him to come along, but he just wasn't up for it", Leo said, shaking his head

"Oh well", I said, shrugging "It's his decision not mine, don't have control over that"

I then could hear squawking as I giggled seeing my bird flying on top of Donnie's head and began to pull at his head gear. "Hey! What is that biting at my head?", Donnie asked, trying to crane his head up to see what was going on

"That would be Skittles my scarlet macaw", I said, as she looked down at him and began to bite as his glasses pulling them off

"Oh no hey I need those!", he said, trying to pull them back but she ended taking in her beak

He was moving his arms blindly trying to find them as I giggled walking to him. "Here hold on, come here pretty girl", I said, as she climbed on my arm when I extended it out

I had a bit of tug of war for the glasses in her beak before she finally let go. "Naughty bird", I said, kissing her beak before handing Donnie his glasses back

"Thanks", he said, smiling embarrassed putting them back on

"Sorry, she is very curious about new things", I said, as he scratched behind her head as her wings flapped

"More like mischievous if you ask me", he said, looking at her

I chuckled as Skittles laughed amused. "Yeah that too, but you can't stay mad at her for long, she kind of gives you those big puppy eyes you can't resist", I said, as she climbed on to Donnie's wrist "Or should I say pretty bird eyes"

He got into stroking her along her back while she gently was grazing the tip of her beak along his arm. "Not like most macaws that would normally bite", he said

"Well they don't bite if you are calm, its almost a little bit of psychology", I said "The more tense and stress you are the more likely you are going to be bitten, but if you remain calm and gentle than your behavior would reflect on what the bird might act"

He smiled as Skittles began to climb on his arm and she got comfortable on his shoulder and began to graze at his head as he chuckled. I smiled and giggled and Leo was looking at the fish in my tank before he looked over the cage that held my rats. "What you got in here Sky?", Leo asked, looking over his shoulder

"Oh that's Iggy and Lola, those are her pet rats! They are awesome! Kind of remind me of Splinter", Mikey said, piping up

Iggy and Lola then appeared out from their hammock and began to sniff in the air before jumping down and going to the cage door. "You can take them out if you want", I said

Leo unlatched the cage door and he held out his hand as they both sniffed for a moment, before Iggy started to climb on with Lola not being far behind. "Wow they are so tiny", he said, as they looked around and climbing up to his shoulders

"And to think Splinter was that small before we mutated", Donnie said, as he gave Skittles a crushed nut in his fingers

"Totally!", Mikey said

"Well I am glad to see that everyone is getting along with you guys, which reminds me there is an new addition to the family that I want you all to meet", I said, going to my room

"You got another pet Sky?! What is it?!", Mikey asked, excitedly "I told you guys she was Dr. Doolittle"

"Oh shush! I am not really, its not like I have a tiger sleeping in my bed", I said, jokingly

"What is your new pet Sky?", Donnie asked, curiously

"You will see, but just go very slowly with him, he is still kind of uneasy around some people", I said, slowly opening my bedroom door "Hey baby, come here"

I made a few clicks with my lips and saw Buddha come over slowly to the door as his head peeked out before coming out of the door slightly, sitting down beside my leg. "Oh my god", Leo said, softly, walking over

"Yeah he has not had a good start", I said, getting on my knees, petting his head "Haven't you?"

Mikey came over and Buddha backed up behind me in fear, whimpering. "Oh it's okay", he said, getting down on his knees slowly and he held out his hand open for him to show him he meant no harm "Don't be afraid"

Buddha cautiously came out from behind me as he very timidly walked out to Mikey. His stance was low to the ground, almost like he was trying to avoid his gentle hand. Afraid that it might strike him at any given second. But as soon as he got closer he started standing up higher till his hand gently stroked the side of his head with the back of his knuckles. Mikey looked at him with a smile till Buddha got the courage to come closer till he sat down and licked his wrist. "See Buddha, he doesn't want to hurt you, he wants to be a friend", I said, to him in a soft voice

"Buddha?", Mikey said, curiously

"Because of his gentle demeanor, like Buddha himself", I said

"What happened to him Sky?", Mikey asked, sitting beside him, gently stroking his back "He looks in pretty bad shape"

"I saved him from the county shelter just last night", I said "I saw his photo on the website and I knew I had to do something for him after everything that he had to be put through"

"So what is his story?", Donnie asked, examining him with his goggles "Like how did he get this way?"

"He was apart of a dog fighting operation in the city that just got shut down by the police, twenty dogs were seized at the scene, I guess basically fighting for the sport or drugs or something related to that", I said "He was used as a bait dog"

"What does that mean?", Leo asked

"Bait dog means that Buddha wasn't train to fight, other dogs would attack him while he had been either tied up and muzzled while the other dogs just completely tear him apart, I mean to them it makes their dogs a whole lot stronger for when do the real fight they got better practice", I said "But for Buddha is was just nothing but pain, most of the scars you see on him are from the mauling's of other dogs"

"So basically he was used as a punching bag for the fighters?", Mikey asked, looking at him with concern

"Uh-huh he was like one of the only ones that weren't trained to fight", I said "When I got him he was just a mess, it was unbelievable, I am surprised he even lasted that long with the amount of injuries he had. In Buddha's case he had open wounds from bites, wounds that have been improperly cared for, his nose was split open and he was missing a few teeth so he had gotten put into pretty tough battles"

"Jeez that is awful, how could they do that to him?", Donnie said, gently stroking behind Buddha's ears

"I really honestly don't know, it was just really a horrible picture you guys, everyone at work and my vet were just...silent, they couldn't believe what was right in front of them", I said, shaking my head "Barely even I could"

"Why would someone do that to you?", Mikey asked, softly looking at Buddha, who just gave him a sad look while he stroked his head carefully

"So what happened to the other dogs that were with him?", Leo asked

I sighed softly before getting up to my feet. "Unfortunately due to the aggression that they showed towards others and people, they had to be...put down", I said, sadly

Silent gasps filled my ears before I nodded regrettingly. "But why did they? Can't they just put them through training to try and not make them aggressive?", Donnie asked

"It doesn't work that way unfortunately, they are just too far gone, they will always be that way. It is just how they were raised", I said "I mean it is very sad to know that all their lives they knew that fighting was the norm and they never got the chance to live life that they were suppose to and that's with love and security. But what really is the saddest part about all this is that they are the ones that have to pay the price for something that humanity forced them to do, because none of them asked for this and yet the fighters are the ones who get off easy than the dogs and that just makes me very angry"

"I wouldn't say I blame you, I would be the same way", Mikey said, nodding in agreement

"And to think that they were going to put Buddha down just because he was labeled as aggressive, but he was nowhere near that he was more scared than anything", I said "Wouldn't harm a fly"

"They can't do that can they? Not unless it was proven right?", Donnie asked

"Proven or not they were going to do it regardless if he did something or not", I said "That's the biggest problem with shelters is that they don't take the time to really assess the behavior of the animal before making a life decision, cause one mark or one word is life or death"

They gulped softly. "Jeez well good thing he didn't suffer at the hands of them", Mikey said, hugging him in his arms

"Trust me I am not regretting saving him, cause there would be no way and how I would ever leave him there", I said, smiling petting Buddha's head as his tail wagged happily "You sweet baby"

"Well you did a really great thing Sky, by helping him and all these animals you have", Leo said, with a smile, looking around the room

"Yeah its hard work, but its totally worth it", I said "Well with that being why don't I get dinner started for you all?"

"Well I am starving!", Mikey said, piping up

"Me too!", Donnie said, chiming in

I giggled. "That sounds great Sky", Leo said

"Great! You guys just make yourselves at home, I got the perfect idea for tonight", I said "I was having a bit of a craving, but I think you guys are going to love it, won't take me long to make"

I walked into the kitchen and I began to preheat the oven to four hundred degrees and I took out my cutting board and began to slice mushrooms and red peepers into thin slices. "So how long have you lived here Sky?", Donnie asked, pulling one of my art books of the book shelf

"Just for a little awhile now, kind of took me a long time to get this place", I said "But I finally pulled some strings and got where I wanted to be. Of course this place is only temporary until I can find a nicer studio that or find a good condo in my price range. Be a lot more space for me but mostly for these furry guys"

I then started kneading the dough and rolling it flat with the rolling pin. "So have you thought of maybe opening up your own tattoo parlor?", Leo asked, petting Kisa who was laying on his shoulder

"Well here is the thing my boss is going to be retiring soon and he has been training me to become the manager", I said "I have only been doing training for a good month so I think within the next few weeks I should be owning it, I thought about maybe expanding it for production"

"Some of the tattoos you have drawn here are really good Sky", Donnie said, looking through my book

"Yeah some of those are the most popular at the parlor", I said "I am actually wanting to get another tattoo"

"What were you thinking?", Mikey asked, looking over his shoulder while petting Buddha

"Thinking like a giant cherry blossom tree on my back", I said, touching my upper back reaching behind my shoulder "Like putting some words written in the branches something like that"

"Hey that would be pretty cool", Leo said, smiling in agreement

"Now that I am seeing these I just might get one myself", Donnie said

"Dude yeah right!", Mikey said, rolling his eyes with a smirk

"What? I would", Donnie said, sounding like he was serious

"What you going to get a little turtle back of the neck some tramp stamp?", Mikey asked

"Dude first of all a tramp stamp is on your lower back not the back of your neck", I said, laughing, slicing some tomatoes and onions on the cutting board

"Yeah no offense Donnie if you had a bunch of needles in you, you wouldn't last long", Leo said, looking over the couch

"I am a lot tougher than you think you guys, I have a bigger shell than both of you guys put together you kidding me?", Donnie said, trying to act cocky

"Well than that is your problem dude", I said

We all started laughing at the joke and Mikey held out his arm and I smacked his hand giving him a low high five. "Good one babe!", Mikey said, giving me a wink

I blushed looking away shyly, I could tell he was still looking at me and I struggled to focus on my task I nearly knocked over my glass and sliced my finger off with the knife. "Well...dinner...should be...ready in a little bit", I said, stuttering still blushing pink

I got over his flirting slowly, but I was able to get back to focusing and I laid out the dough flat and spread the tomato sauce with a ladle evenly before I sprinkled the cheese I made from scratch. I added the vegetables and added a few pieces of parsley before sticking it in the oven. After waiting about twenty minutes the oven alarm went off and the dish was prepared. "Dinner is ready!", I said

I walked out of the kitchen with oven mittens on and on a circular metal platter was a fresh garden pizza. "I present thy Pizza a la Vegan", I said, doing a funny Italian accent

As I set the platter in the center of the table with the boys sitting around it, they dug in and surprisingly they gave out sounds of surprise when they took bites out of it. "Mmmmmm this is really good", Donnie said, smiling

"Totally! So fresh dude!", Mikey said

"This is really all vegan?", Leo asked

"Yup everything is, to the dough to the cheese", I said, smiling taking a bite

"But I thought vegans don't eat cheese", Mikey said, curiously

"Yes that is true, but they come up with alternatives to get the same taste like the real thing, but not the same way to make it", I said

"Huh creative, should eat this way more often, could eat my favorite food and still be healthy!", he said, with a smile

"Defiantly! All the same good taste but without any of the cruelty", I said

While eating we were just having a good time of listening to all olden day stories and laughing, it felt good to laugh with people that cared about me. I felt like I was actually noticed and someone was aware of me. I haven't laughed this much in years and it brought such a good warm feeling inside of me and I couldn't stop smiling. Mikey was doing some funny impersonations amusing the three of us in a funny voice. "Maybe I'll fight Apollo, and maybe I won't you know? What do you think? Adrian!", he said

We all started laughing while we continued eating, but when I took a bite of my slice I felt something crawling on my foot and I felt a pinch on my toe. "Ow! What the?", I squeaked, making the laughter stop

I looked under the table and noticed one of my other furry friends. "What is it you knucklehead?", I asked, with him trying to look innocent, like he didn't do anything

But then he nipped at my house shoe tugging on the soft material. "Oh I can never forget you little guy, come here", I said, getting under the table picking him up

I pulled him out from under the table and I gave him a piece of red pepper from my slice as he quickly started munching on it. "There you are, better than chewing on my shoe", I said, giggling

"Oh I didn't know you had a rabbit", Donnie said, surprised

"Hey Usagi!", Mikey said, excitedly, taking him hugging him close

"Usagi?", Leo asked

"Means rabbit of the moon, Mikey was the one who named him after we found him", I said, smiling "Yeah I almost forgot that I let him out to let him get exercise, sometimes he can a bit of ninja himself he hides pretty good"

"You both found him?", Leo asked

"Yeah found him outside all alone", Mikey said, letting Usagi lay against him while petting him

"Mikey saved his life", I said, smiling

"He did?", Donnie asked, surprised

"Yup from getting hypothermia from being left out in a box in an alley", I said, nodding

"Well we both found him babe", Mikey said, looking a bit bashful from the compliment

"Yeah but you were the one to discover him first", I said, smiling "I honestly just thought it was junk"

"Wow from hypothermia, you are one lucky little bunny", Leo said, petting his head "Well it looks like we have a hero here, way to go little bro"

He blushed and smiled embarrassed but I just giggled. "Well we really appreciate you inviting us over for dinner, but we should probably get going Splinter will worry and we do have training in the morning", Leo said

This caused both Donnie and Mikey to whine in annoyance. "Awwwwww man", Mikey said, pouting

"Well it is my pleasure, I'm glad we all had a good time together, though I wish it could last longer", I said, smiling "We will have to do this another time soon"

But before anything else could be said there was a loud rumble outside and there was a flash of white light making the room light up brightly. I pulled back the curtains to see heavy rain drop pelt the window furiously and more thunder crashes and lightning strikes erupted the peaceful night. "Well I guess sooner than we think", I said, making a remark shrugging smiling

"Oh great, weather reporter said it was suppose to be clear skies in the chance of the low seventies", Leo said, sounding annoyed looking out the window

"You never can trust a weather man!", Mikey said

"Exactly!", I said

The thunder boomed angrily across the sky and a huge bolt of lightning flashed behind a cloud as the rain picked up more speed and intensity. "Wow this is turning out to be quite the storm", Donnie said, looking the window beside me

"Well there is no point in you guys going out there with it being that bad, you guys should probably just spend the night here and wait till morning till the storm clears up", I said, walking to the closet to get blankets and pillows

"You know what this means. sleepover!", Mikey cheered, pumping his fists in the air

I was happy inside that the boys got to stay with me much longer. Their company really was so warming and happy to me, I almost asked them to spend the night. Thank god for the storm tonight. Mikey was starting up a movie in the living room by the time I came out in my pajamas to get more comfortable, a orange tank top and dark green baggy sweats pants with a soft pink bandanna around my head. We ended up watching Cabin in the Woods while snacking on a huge bowl of popcorn. Mikey and I were on the couch with Leo and Donnie on the floor. When the scary parts came on I couldn't help but jump in fright, latching on to Mikey's arm hiding my face. I was almost embarrassed when I did it but he made it better by pulling me closer to him in his arms, making me feel safer watching the movie. When I went to grab a handful of popcorn, I could feel a scaly hand grab mine instead. I blushed out of the corner of my eye seeing Mikey interlacing his fingers with mine, still focusing on the movie. I smiled softly and I gripped his hand tighter in mine and kept my hand locked with his in the bowl. After the movie was over, it was around midnight and we were all going to start to head off to sleep.

"You sure I can't get you guys anything else?", I asked, as the boys got comfortable

"We are fine shugo, don't worry about us, we will be okay", Leo said, as he got settled on the couch

"Well okay, well if you need any more blankets they are just right in this closet, any aspirin is in the cabinet by the sink, and I got fresh water in the fridge just in case", I said, with a smile

"Thanks Skylar we really appreciate all of this", Donnie said, taking off his glasses and putting in his retainer by the fish tank glowing softly

"Of course its my pleasure", I said "Well if you need anything else just come wake me up okay?"

"Will do little lady", Mikey said, with a smile slowly falling asleep on my bean bag

I gave him a sweet smile before I opened my bedroom door. "Night you guys, sleep well", I said

"Night Sky", they said

I went into my room and got settled under my comfy comforter before I curled up in a ball slowly falling asleep. It wasn't only a few hours before I heard creaking, I thought it was the storm outside with the wind smashing the old wood shutters against the building walls. I settled back down before I heard more creaking and my bed was sinking in with my legs going lower. I yawned awake before I looked over my shoulder to see Mikey was in my bed looking nervous and flinched back. "Mikey? What's wrong?", I asked, rubbing my eyes "Can't you sleep?"

He shook his head. "Had a bad dream", he said

"Oh what happened? Do you want to talk about it?", I asked, sitting up fixing my bandanna

"It was that person who is after you, they took you away from me and I didn't have the strength to fight to get you back, it was awful", he said, with his voice sounding like it was cracking "I-I tried"

"Hey shhhhhh it's okay", I said, crawling to him and pulling him close to me

He hugged me tightly to him as I heard his muffled crying in my shoulder. "It's okay Mikey, it was a dream, there is nothing to be scared of", I said "I am right here"

"I just don't know what I would do if they had gotten you and I wasn't there", he said

"Hey it's alright, he won't get me, I have a good feeling about it", I said "I know you are scared about it and believe me I am too, I mean even though I am learning self defense from Splinter some fear still remains there, but I know we will be strong to stop him if we stick together"

"You think so?", he asked

"Bet on it", I said, with a smile

He smiled softly. "Sorry I just didn't want to wake up the bros, and I wanted to talk to you", he said

"Oh? About what?", I asked, a bit curious and sounding a little nervous

I wasn't sure if he was going to bring up the kiss from last night and I was a bit worried about what his reaction was going to be. "Well first thing's first, I am sorry Raph gave you that crap yesterday, I really don't get why he is doing that", he said

"No its fine, you guys and him, I get it, its family matters", I said

"I gave him an earful after you left, I had enough", he said

"Oh Mikey you shouldn't have, look I know you are concerned but please don't make this harder than it already is", I said, shaking my head before trying to get off the bed

He pulled me back by the arm, but before he could say anything else I interrupted him. "Look just because I always have a snappy comeback doesn't always mean it doesn't break me inside", I said

"There is more I want to say", he said "I never thought there was hope. I never thought there was hope, in becoming apart of the world above. I was always told that humans don't except us just we are different. But when I met you, it was different. After hearing about what your family did and having to do all this on your own, it really made me think that about us how we met each other for a reason. I always wanted to feel accepted by someone and I felt that feeling I desired so much come over me being with you and I want to return the favor. Because Skylar I see you needed someone in your life that will give love and protection that should of been with you long ago. And I want to be that one who will be there for you no matter what."

I was intrigued by his words and I became curious to what he was meaning. "What are you trying to say Mikey?", I asked

"I am saying Skylar, that while we have been friends, I have come to see you as a strong willed, bright, energetic, funny, beautiful girl in my eyes", he said "And I know that to most people I am a monster but I am not a monster. I am just a guy that crushes you so hard I can't even focus half of the time. All I do is think of you. And me. And us. I know I look different but my heart is just like yours. It feels. I know that I can't make you fall for me, especially when I look like this. But for the sake of my heart, please just give me one shot. All I need is one chance to prove that I can love you like no other. I...just...want...you."

I was in shock. I felt my heart just jump out of my chest in happiness and the breath in my throat just escaped me. I couldn't believe it. Mikey was having the same feelings as me. Everything was falling right into place and I became overwhelmed with emotion. "Oh come here you big dorky sweetheart!", I said, tugging him to me as I smashed my lips against his

I kept them together only for a few seconds before I pulled embarrassed at my sudden action. "Oh sorry, my emotions kind of lost its head", I said, blushing red in my cheeks looking away

I felt a hand gently pull on my chin pulling my head back in the other direction, with my face meeting Mikey's and it had a loving smile on it. "Not a bad try, but let me turn things around", he said, pulling my head closer towards his

His lips were slowly pulled towards mine, till they finally met with another kiss. This time a real one. My heart was racing faster as I only wanted to feel his lips on mine and nothing more. He pulled me closer towards his body till my chest could line up perfectly with his own and my arms wrapped quickly around his neck and I squeezed my arms tightly to keep me close. I never felt this way about anyone before in my life and after all those years of heartbreak, sadness and betrayal it seemed like this one kiss was taking every bit of darkness away and I was starting to see the light again. I never felt more alive than I do right now with Mikey right here in front of me and I never thought his kiss would be this magical. I felt like a whole new me.

Our lips moved softly against each other as his arms circled around me, pulling me closer till I sat down on top of his lap. I felt so safe from anything that might of thrown itself at me. It began to get to the point of where I thought my lips were never going to let go of his as it started to get more intense. It was such a good feeling to feel this much love for someone in so long and I didn't want it to end. Mikey started to push me back down on my bed and I pulled away slowly as I saw him starting to climb over me. I smiled happily seeing him smiling down at me that was full of love and trust. His body felt so warm against me as he carefully laid over me and pulled me close around my back and reconnected our lips once more into a passionate kiss.

I feel one of his hands travel up to the back of my bandanna and my arms quickly wrapped around his neck pulling him closer to me. I sighed softly as I could feel his hand rubbing my hip and side deeply. Mikey moved his lips away from mine and he started to pepper kisses around my face making blush and giggle. His dark chuckle made me get goosebumps all over my body and I could feel my breath started to hitch when I felt him kiss down my neck. I gasped when I felt him sucking and gently licking at the crook of my neck. My hands gripped the back of his head with my fingers entangling around his mask as I could feel him lick up to my earlobe and he began to tease me by suckling on it playfully and blowing his hot breath against it. "You are so beautiful", he whispered

I gasped in surprise softly, no one has ever called me beautiful before and my goodness it felt like the best feeling in the world. He really knew what he was doing and I was loving every second and I moaned deeply when I felt him starting to kiss along my collarbone. I arched up as I gripped his shoulders tightly arching up, feeling his warm lips touch my sensitive skin. He continued along my collarbone before licking back up and reconnecting his lips with mine. I moaned deeply as I rub my tongue on his bottom lip to see what he might do and I could feel his tongue peeking out and hooking it around mine bringing into his hot mouth and gently stroking it, matching his moans with mine. It felt like pure bliss as the make out session started to get more intense when he pulled me into a tight hug and it caused me to wrap my legs tightly around his waist wanting to stay connected for as long as our breathes could hold up. I could feel my chest constricting from the lack of air but I didn't care, nothing was going to stop this moment of happiness for me.

Sadly this moment came to an end as we had to forcibly pull away from each other and catch our breathes from that incredible feeling of love. When I open my eyes I see just how romantic this entire scene is while we were kissing in the lighted up room by the lighting outside and the mighty roar of thunder crash. This was a breakthrough for me. Mikey smiled down at me as I smiled the biggest smile I felt go across my face. I don't even remember the last time I smiled that big.

"Mikey I-", I said, sounding breathless

"You have no idea how long I waited for this", he said, bringing me back into another deep kiss

I kissed him back deeply hugging him tight to my heart. With it going longer than a minute it started to get very heated, our hands started to roam around each other's bodies. I gulped softly when I felt one of his hands carefully sneak its way up my shirt nearly touching my breast. "Wait", I said, grabbing his arm quickly

"Oh sorry", he said, blushing pulling back "My hand kind of lost its head"

"No worries, just not yet", I said, shaking my head "Don't want to rush"

"Of course definitely", he said

We gave each other one last sweet kiss before I pulled away. "Hey I am sorry I left you hanging with that kiss back in the alley, I probably made you more shocked than anything", I said, smiling

"Nah its cool little lady, not the first time I was left with that much excitement", he said, chuckling

"Well that's a relief, but I am glad that we finally got the chance to do the real thing", I said, stroking his cheek

"Me too, one of the best things ever", he said, pecking my lips

Suddenly a crash of thunder boomed in the sky making me jump, but Mikey pulled me closer comforting me immediately. "Jeez that was close", he said, looking over his shoulder out towards the rain stained window

"Too close for my liking", I said "Never been a fan of storms"

"Well you know I could always", he said, sounding flirtatious cocking his eyebrow at me

"If this is a way for you to stay in bed with me", I said "Then its working"

He grinned happily and I giggled shoving him off my bed playfully making him shriek as he landed on the ground. I giggled more as he climbed back up and he kissed me softly as I snuggled close into his chest. Even though his chest was hard it felt so comfortable to me. I felt Mikey cover me up with the comforter as he settled in close beside me, with his arms wrapping around me, making me much warmer instantly. I felt my eyelids starting to get heavy as I struggled to keep them awake while I slowly looked back up to Mikey. My vision got blurry as I saw him smiling down at me, stroking my temple gently with his thumb. "Just sleep Angel Cakes, I will be here when you wake up", he said, softly

"Okay...goodnight...babycakes", I said, yawning before falling into a deep sleep


	11. Chapter 11

Sky's Pov...  
The sound of my alarm clock buzzing made me groan annoyed waking me up from a good sleep. I reached over blindly smacking it on my nightstand to stop the noise. I swear sometimes if I smack it hard enough it just might break. I rubbed my eyes opened to see it was six in the morning and I had to been in work in about two hours. I yawned awake before trying to sit up but I heard the sound of deep snoring behind me and the feeling of heavy weight push me down. I was able to look over my shoulder to see Mikey was still fast asleep, man he is a heavy sleeper if he didn't hear my alarm clock going off.

He was rolling over the top of me burying me underneath him as I squeaked trying to escape but his body weight was much too heavy. I sighed before I felt him snuggling into me like I was a body pillow mumbling in his sleep. I rolled my eyes with a smirk and I reached in front of me to grab one of my pillows and I swung it behind my shoulder. "Hey wake up!", I said, smacking the pillow into his head

He groaned awake before shrieking falling off the bed. I giggled being able to quickly to get off the bed before walking into my walk in closet. "No thanks I don't want sardines on my sandwich", he said, sleepily yawning awake

"Dude yuck that's gross!", I said, slipping on my red and black flannel shirt

He yawned once more before he smirked at me. "You know you didn't have to smack me awake with a pillow?", he said

"Sorry I had no other thing harder to smack you with", I said, giggling, tying on a dark red bandanna around my head "And besides you were thinking that I was your body pillow"

He looked over at my alarm clock rubbing his face awake. "What are you doing up so early?", he asked

"Got work in a bit babe, it's called having to be a grown up", I said, sarcastically straightening my locket around my neck

"Ugh doesn't sound fun", he said, annoyed

"Believe me it isn't sometimes, but like they say when life gives you lemons you got to suck it up and deal with them", I said, shimming my black ripped up pants over my hips

"Ain't that the truth", he said, with a chuckle

I giggled before sitting on my bed slipping on my red high tops as he crawled over the bed pulling me from behind close to him "Can't you call in sick babes? I was looking forward to hanging out with you today", he said, with puppy eyes

"As much as I want to do that babe, but nope", I said, kissing his cheek "Somebody has got to bring home the moola"

He moaned in disappointment with a frown, but I gave his other cheek a kiss before the smile returned again. "Can I at least bring you lunch at your work?", he asked, hopefully

"Mmmmmmmmmmm...okay you can but as long as you don't get seen by no one and don't scare me like you did last time!", I said, giving his shoulder a playful punch

He laughed with a smile. "No promises", he said

I rolled my eyes before I grabbed my bag with my oxygen tank, house keys and cell phone from off the nightstand slipping them into my pockets. "Do you mind feeding my little furry babies before you have to go?", I asked

"Not a problemo babe", he said, as we walked out of the bedroom as my pets seemed to be waking up "I don't have to be back at home for training for at least another two more hours anyways, I heard Leo and Donnie already left at five this morning, apparently they had more important things to do than catching sleep"

"Well trust me if I didn't have to cover for Meghan's shift this morning at the last minute I would be too", I said, as Kisa came up to me on the couch as I scratched behind her head

He smiled and pulled me into a loving kiss as I smiled and giggled stroking his cheek. "I love you", he said

"I love you too", I said, giving his other cheek a stroke "I'll see you later this afternoon"

He pecked my forehead as I let my hand stroke down his arm giving his palm a few gentle tickles before leaving out the door. It was official now. We are now a couple. Last night was one of the best ones I have had in a long time. I didn't think that it would lead to something that magical. Mikey was a master at kiss and showing affections, each kiss, touch and snuggle was making up for the affection and love that lacked in my life for several years. I never wanted it to end. I was really looking forward to what our relationship might turn out to be. Sure we were from two different worlds and let alone two different species, but that didn't matter to me. I was in love and there would be no way I could fall out of this. I plugged in my headphones and I went through my playlist searching for the one song in particular. I found it and as soon as "Beautiful Soul by Jesse McCartney" it began to play my mind began to drift and all I could think about was being in his arms and just kiss him all day. A dreamy smile formed on my face as I drove my way to work on my bike feeling the light inside of me shine brightly, making me more happy and confident by the second.

Later on I was doing a few tattoos that I was making up for Meghan and I got some great tips that would help me raise some money to save for my next tattoo I want to get. I had finished up doing a dragon design on a man's thigh and it reminded me of Mikey as he asked me to have the colors orange and yellow and light blue like his eyes. When it was finished it was a masterpiece and it made me more eager to see Mikey when he was coming by later today with lunch.

About another hour later it was near close to two o'clock and I was cleaning up my workstation when I heard my phone vibrating on the table and to my delight, it was a text from Mikey, "Look behind you :)"

I turned and there he was wearing his sunglasses with a smile. I went over to the window sliding it open before he was able to wedge himself inside. "Hey I didn't manage to scare you this time, I almost was going to-", he said

But I couldn't wait any longer and I threw myself on to him smashing my lips against his. "Okay count me in!", he said, sounding surprised but yet happy as he returned the kiss

Our lips danced passionately at a quick pace as the moaning increased in volume as he pulled me up closer to him with my legs wrapping around his waist tightly. I felt his hand go behind my head to make my lips smash more into his as I gripped his shoulders tightly pulling him closer towards me. I felt myself being lowered down and I peeked my eyes open for a moment to see he was laying me down on the chair with him climbing over the top of me before closing them again to return to the makeout session. He started to kiss along my jawline before going down towards my throat giving it a gentle lick as I gasped for breath. He gave little deep kisses all over my neck before returning to my lips connecting them once more. After a few more minutes of breathlessly kissing each other, we suddenly pulled away panting hard before my eyes slowly opened with a giggle. "Hi", I said, softly

"Hey", he said, still panting softly with a smile

"Sorry, I was thinking about you all day today", I said, with a giggle

"If this is how you will say hi to me every time, I will be looking forward to each one", he said, with a grin

I giggled as he climbed off of me and I sat up leaning against the chair. "Brought us both some lunch", he said, holding up a few plastic bins

"Awesome I am starving, I have had such a busy day you wouldn't believe it", I said, taking one of the bins

"You should of been in training today now that was hard, Splinter made us do a half marathon of running in the sewers plus along with weight training, and three hours of sparring!", he said, looking exasperated rolling his eyes back

"Jesus, my god! If I had to do anything like that I would be whipped", I said, opening up my bin to see a fresh garden salad, with strawberries, pineapples, almonds, grapes and vinaigrette sauce before taking a bite

"Well just giving you the heads up, Splinter is probably going to do that with you if you are going to become a kunoichi babes", he said, taking a bite of his pizza "He made us do similar training when we were kids but in smaller times"

"Well thanks for the heads up, keep me posted on what other crazy training exercises he might have me do", I said, with a giggle "I want to prepare in case I might pass out of breath or possibly break a bone"

We both laughed and we carried on in conversation about anything that might draw an interest and we were just having the time of our lives, laughing and remembering the golden moments of the olden days. "Seriously you guys spent 11 hours in the Hashi for just going up topside to help hostages in a subway station? That's insane!", I said, popping a strawberry into my mouth

"Believe me it was, big time!", he said "Well technically we snuck out when we weren't suppose to"

"How did you guys not like pass out from exhaustion, or hunger, or anything?", I asked, amazed yet utterly shocked

"Pfft well you have been sent there a couple times over the years you get quickly used to it", he said, with a grin and shrug

"My goodness that is crazy!", I said, shaking my head

"What is even more crazy he got me to talk about what we were doing by tempting me with a 99 cheese pizza", he said "I just couldn't hold it in much longer"

"Um I am not even sure if that is even physically possible", I said, cocking my head to the side "I don't think there could be that many types of cheeses in the world"

"Well if even if there was or not, I was tempted to try it!", he said

"You wanna talk about crazy? Get this, I was doing a client's shoulder tattoo when I first started working here and he had eyeballs tattooed on his eyelids and when he closed his eyes it looked like he was awake", I said, with a light laugh

He looked at me shocked and a bit dumbfounded. "Dude now that is crazy!", he said

"Yeah like he did this", I said, leaning back with my eyes closed with a snore laughing more

"Man we have really had some crazy stuff happen to us huh?", he said

"We sure have", I said, with a giggle

He chuckled but then he gasped looking terrified. "Mikey-", I said

But before I could say anything else he pushed me out of the chair with him flying on top of me as I could hear the sound of breaking glass as we landed on the floor. I shrieked as we landed on the floor just as I saw a sharp arrow with something attached to it spear right into the door. "Man that was a close one!", he said, looking over his shoulder towards the arrow

"Dude how did you even see that?", I asked

"I didn't, sensed it", he said, looking back at me

"Man you ninjas are good at this", I said, as he rolled off of me "Holy shit!"

We both got up and walked over towards the arrow and I could see that it was right where my head was before Mikey pushed me. "Jeez that would of went through straight through me", I said, pointing to where the arrow went through the window to the door

"Turtle luck working true to form", he said, with a grin

I then noticed a note was attached around the arrow with string as I pulled it off. Rolling open the note I could see it was written red ink, hopefully it wasn't blood as I read the message. "We are coming for you, better watch your back", I said

I then noticed the Foot Clan sign was on the bottom of the note from the ones that the boys have shown me before. "We are coming for you, better watch your back?", he said, in confusion "What does that mean?"

"It means he is hunting for me...waiting", I said, softly

I could feel my stomach literally drop at the feeling. My body froze at the thought of actually seeing this character and I knew that he was dangerous to be sending this kind of threat to me. I knew that he was going to do anything in order to find me and kill me. I felt the hand of Mikey touch my shoulder gently, making me look up to me as he looked at me concerned. "He won't get you, not while I am here", he said "He won't lay a hand on you"

I didn't respond but he pulled me close to him with his arms as I nervously shivered. I wasn't sure on how he was able to find out where I worked but I knew I was in dangerous territory with them now. I now felt more scared than I did now when I found out that I was being hunted by this guy. As much as Mikey wanted to stay with me, he had to go back to the lair fearing someone from the shop would see him, but told me that he would be able to take me home after my shift ended. I could barely focus as the day went on fearing that something might happen when Mikey wasn't around. I could be ambushed, threatened again, kidnapped or killed or who knows what. As the afternoon turned into evening, I finished up my paperwork and made sure my work station was cleaned up before I gathered up my belongings and my bag. I made sure that the knife that Mikey gave me before he left was secured in my pocket in case I needed to use it. I locked up my door and I made my way out with a gulp seeing it was dead tonight. No one was out and about and there was no sound neither except for the flickering of a lamppost across the street. I clutched my bag tightly in my hands as I made my way towards the back of the shop where I had parked my bike. I pulled out my phone letting Mikey know that my shift ended and that he could come and get me. "Heading out...still kinda freaking out", I texted

"Hang tight baby girl 3 I am a coming! Be there before you know it! 3", he texted

As I walked through the smoggy wet alley I could feel a chill run down my spine and the hairs on the back of my neck stick up as I stopped dead in my tracks seeing a shadow quickly go past me. I was now beyond scared. I knew I was being watched. I hurried along quickly as I could hear the sound of running footsteps right behind me. My heart began to pump fast and sweat began to form in palms, it seemed like it was taking me forever to get to the other side of the alley. I looked back behind me to see shadows were closing in and that's when I began to run. The footsteps got louder and louder as I could probably think they were now running after me. Running through the cramped alley splashing through rain puddles and dodging fire escape ladders, I ran as fast as I could let my feet carry me. I wasn't sure whether or not Mikey would get here in time, but for now I was on my own. I looked ahead to see a pile of junk was beside a dumpster and I dug from out of my pocket a throwing kunai that Leo gave me to cause the pile to start to topple over from the shift in balance and it crashed down in front of the ninjas giving me a bit of an advantage to get away.

After running a few more feet I managed to reach my bike and I pushed the key and tried to start up my bike but all that greeted me was the sound of a failing engine.

"Shit come on! Not now!", I said, trying to start up my bike again

I could hear the sound of running footsteps getting closer towards me and the adrenaline was pumping fast throughout my body. I kept trying to start my bike furiously trying to get on the move and just right when I saw the ninjas running towards me. "Come on!", I yelled

Finally my bike started up and I kicked it into high gear speeding away.

Despite being faster than them on two wheels I looked back behind me to see that the ninjas surprisingly were fast enough to almost keep up with me. Driving faster through the alley, we went through twist and turns before I managed to make it back on the main road, nearly getting run down by moving cars. as they honked at me. I went speeding through lanes of traffic before taking an exit ramp on to the quiet highway. Splashing through a puddle I stopped in the middle of the lanes, looking back with heavy breathing. There was no signs of them following me, maybe I lost them in the busy streets. Just when I started to calm down, I saw something in the distance and looked to see more ninjas this time on fast bikes like mine and even on slingshots come from down the highway and some from the bridge above making loud shrieking sounds, they landed sending trails of sparks as they headed towards me. "Man those moments of watching high speed chases better start to pay off!", I said

I zoomed down the highway picking up speed as I dug my phone out and dialed up the boys with a special ear piece and speaker in my helmet Donnie installed in for me, hoping that they could get here in time. The ninjas were starting to pick up speed and one of the slingshots was coming up on my rear, then I heard Donnie's voice on the other end of the line. "Hello?", he said

"Donnie its me!", I said, frantically

"Skylar?", he asked, worriedly "Sky what's going on?"

"I am being chased by ninjas! The same ones like one before!", I said "They are literally right on my tail!"

"Alright hang on! Where are you at? I can probably tap into one of the security cams", he said, as I can hear him typing away

"Heading north on the 97! I got literally an army out here! I need you guys asap or I might just become roadside sushi!", I said, frantically

I then felt a jolt from behind as I jerked forward hard causing me to scream and it suddenly happened again as I felt my back tire nearly being sideswiped making me scream once more. "Sky?!", Mikey said, as I could hear his voice

"Baby!", I yelled, hearing the sound of tires rubbing against each other

"What's going on? What happened?!", he asked, hearing him running frantic

"I am in a life or death situation right now, the talk will have to wait!", I said

"I am coming for you Angel Cakes! Just hold on!", he said

"Please hurry!", I said, nearly close to screaming again as I felt myself nearly losing grip on my bike

Man I could really tell these guys were determined to catch me as we were nearly reaching triple speeds on the highway. Two bikes were reaching neck and neck towards me and I could see one was pulling for a sword behind his back and nearly tried to slice at me, making me nearly lose my grip on the handle bars. He swung again making me nearly fall off my bike making me scream. I then heard the loud sound of a huge truck's horn and we all looked behind to see a huge garbage truck was coming speeding our way.

I was a bit worried that this would give the ninjas an advantage to slow me down, I then realized that it would be me having the advantage as I heard the boys through my ear piece. "You called in for reinforcements princess?!", Mikey said

"Dudes most excellent timing!", I said

The ninja then a third time tried to swipe at my hands barely making me lose control and I heard the sound of something opening up. "Skylar watch your head!", Leo said

I looked back and saw Leo smash a button and there suddenly manhole covers started flying towards us, ducking down in time they hit the two bikers beside me knocking them off and smashing the bikes into scrap metal. "Nice shot dude!", I said

I gasped as I saw a slingshot near the passenger side of the truck and there was a spinning metal claw that was aiming for the tire. "Guys you got company on the right flank!", I said

"Not a problem babes! Nunchucks Giantacus!", Mikey said

Suddenly two huge metal arms gripping what appeared to be giant versions of nunchucks like Mikey's came spinning up in the air from the sides of the truck. "Giant nunchucks?! Who has giant nunchucks?!", I said

"Welcome to our world Shugo", Donnie said, with a smile

"Say hello to my little friend!", Mikey said, smashing the nunchuck down on the slingshot

It spun out of control sending a huge trail of sparks before crashing on to the side. "Nice job Mikey!", I said

He cheered through the ear piece before I saw more bikers come up beside the boys and threw what looked like bomb like devices and before I could even blink they exploded, causing the truck to swerve. "GUYS!", I yelled

I thought the truck had exploded but to my relief it made it through the explosion, but the tires were lit with a blue fire. "I don't like those guys", Mikey said

"Oh no they don't, not on my watch!", I said, spinning around on the seat of my bike

Keeping one hand to stabilize the handle bars I reached into my coat and pulled out some ninja stars and I gave them a kiss before throwing them hard across the asphalt. They drove over the tips of the stars causing the tires to burst and flip over on to the asphalt rolling over numerous times. "Direct hit!", I said

"Nice shot Sky!", Leo called out

"Thank god for sensei!", I said, laughing before turning back forward

We thought we handled the last of them as we sped down the road, but we couldn't be more wrong. A helicopter zoomed above our heads before keeping its speed up above my head. I then saw something behind lowered down on a cable towards me. "What the hell is that?", I asked

"It's a big ass magnet!", Donnie said

Suddenly I felt myself being lifted up from the ground losing tread on the road before I was being quickly pulled up into the air screaming. "Skylar!", Mikey yelled

I ended up flipping upside down as the magnet caught the metal on my tires as I held on for dear life on the handlebars, looking down to see I was nearly over a hundred feet in the air. "Skylar don't let go!", Leo yelled

"Leo why in the world would I let go?!", I called out

I heard the helicopter door open and another cable fall out in front of me and someone slid down in front of me. I couldn't see the figures face since it was blinded by the helicopter's spot light. But all I know is that I saw the outline of short hair waved out and a gun being held out by his side. "Okay that's probably not a good reason!", I said

He aimed the gun towards me as I gasped but before he could take the shot, a huge net was shot at the man starting to pull him down the cable. "Hey get away from her!", Mikey yelled out from below

But he was still able to aim the gun up at me. He took the shot nearly shooting at my wrist making me lose my grip as I begin to plummet down to asphalt screaming. "Sky!", Mikey screamed

He came running from across the top of the truck from a seat, where he had shot the net towards the front. I barely had time to reach my hand up before he jumped out grabbing mine tightly in his grasp. I held on tight with both of my hands as I dangled off the front of the windshield swinging back and forth before the truck skidded to a halt as Mikey swung me up on top till I was in his arms. We watched as the helicopter flew away with my bike still in tack disappearing into the night with the spot light going out. I was breathing hard before I began to whimper slightly throwing myself in Mikey's arms as he held me tightly.

When we made it back to the lair I was still pretty much shaken up by the incident, I never expected anything life threatening to ever happen to me, especially where I nearly was dangling in the air barely being able to hold on to my bike with a gun being pointed at me. I had a thick yarn blanket wrapped around my body as I sat on the couch trying to calm myself down, when I noticed Splinter coming towards me with a cup of tea in his paws. "Here my daughter, this should help soothe your nerves", he said, handing me the cup

"Thanks", I said, taking it and taking a small sip

"You are very lucky", he said

"I am afraid luck had nothing to do with this sensei", I said "I barely made it out of there by the skin on my hand if Mikey didn't catch me"

"Very few who ever face the Foot Ninja Clan ever make it out unscathed let alone even with their lives", he said, sitting beside me

"I can't believe this, why would they want to kill me? I mean I have never done anything to them let alone even met them", I said, shaking my head in disbelief "This just doesn't make any sense"

"We may not know the answer right now but when the time comes we will find what we are looking for", he said, resting his paw on my shoulder

He gave a gentle smile and I managed to give a little one return before he kissed my forehead and getting up to leave. I sighed softly taking one more sip of my tea before I wrapped the blanket tighter around me leaving the living room. I was then met up with Mikey who came back from the tunnels. "Hey", I said, softly

He frowned but he quickly walked to me bringing me into his arms tightly. I clung on to him tightly with his hand around my head to where it was resting on his chest. I could feel his heart was beating fast for the first few seconds but after a bit it began to relax. It was such a soothing sound to me, it was starting to melt away everything that just happened earlier. "Are you alright?", he asked, looking down at me

"Well considering that I was dangling about a hundred feet in the air by my bike before nearly falling and becoming flatter than pancakes, I am pretty good", I said, reassuringly "Still kind of bit shaken up, but I will get over it"

"If I only had gotten there sooner, I should of even gotten there an hour before hand", he said, shaking his head

"Mikey you couldn't risk that, people could of seen you", I said

"I don't care! You nearly were killed and all that time I could of been there to protect to keep you safe!", he said, pulling away looking down with a deep sigh

"Look I know you were scared about what happened tonight and believe me I was too, but I made it out didn't I? I mean sure it was just probably with the training that I have gotten so far, but we made it and I am okay", I said, taking his hand into mine before placing it over my heart

He looked up at me slowly. "Don't blame yourself for what happened babes, you were there when I needed you and you saved my life and I am standing right here and I am alive, so you did what you had to do", I said, with a soft smile

He slowly managed to smile before I could smile more bringing him to me to have a sweet loving kiss. It seemed to have brought back the spark in him as I could feel his lips tug into a bigger smile as our lips danced slowly against each other. "Better?", I asked, as I slowly pulled away

"Much better", he said, stroking my cheek causing me to giggle

"You guys?", someone said

We turned to see Leo coming walking up to us. "Donnie caught some footage of the attack and thought we should go over on what happened", he said, pointing over his shoulder

We followed him back to Donnie's desk as he was typing away synching the footage on to the screens. "What did you catch Poptart?", I asked, walking up beside him

"Just about everything to the point to when we got there, If I run the video from my shoulder cam to electro static filter we might be able to see who might of been in that helicopter", he said, typing a few more keys

"Let's see what you got", I said

As the video fast forward to the point to where I was hanging on for dear life in the air, he paused the video quickly to where we could see the figure in the spotlight holding the gun. "Right there!", he said, pointing towards it

As I looked at the figure closely something about seem to be causing a familiarity to me. "You know that shadow looks like someone I have seen before", I said

"Wait you know that guy?", Mikey asked, in disbelief

"I am not saying I do, I think I have seen him before, but its on the tip of my tongue", I said "I am not so sure, but it looks familiar to me"

"Well whoever this person is, he is obviously a threat to you and to all of us", Leo said

"And he even made off with my bike, there goes about 5k and months of tuning up", I said, sounding disappointed

"There just has to be a reason why they are after you in the first place", Mikey said "I mean out of all people, why you?"

"From when we first found out about it, they said something about her treatment before she left the hospital, it could be based off something that is related to the leukemia", Donnie said

"But that doesn't make any sense is to why they would want to kill me, just because I left?", I said "I mean if I have been there for over ten years with no sign of improving let alone be given the wrong kind of treatment plan, what gives them the motive?"

"Who knows? It could be anything", Donnie said, shrugging

"I have a feeling that this situation is striking closer to home than what we think", Leo said

We looked at each other with silence, not sure of what to do next. It seemed like I was running out of options on what to do. I knew this wouldn't be the last time they would try to run me down or something even worse happening. "So what are we suppose to do?", I asked

"It seems with the growing threat on your life Skylar, it seems the best and wisest option would be is that you have to remain here in the sewers with us", Splinter said, walking up to us with his cane

"Splinter I can't just do that, I have responsibilities, I have my work and my pets and everything. I can't just abandoned that", I said, shaking my head

"Skylar its not like you are given much options, and with the event that happened tonight it only seems like it would be the best thing for you to do right now", Leo said "I know its not going to be easy but we can't risk you getting captured let alone killed"

I sighed softly, I knew they were right. I wasn't ready to take on the ninjas by myself yet and with the amount of intensity and danger that was nearly close to ending my life maybe this way the only way, for now at least. "Can I least have a week to prepare?", I asked "I mean I got a lot of crap to sort out before I can make any decisions like this"

"I can stay with her, I can keep watch during the night, she will be safe with me", Mikey said, stepping beside me

Leo gave him a questionable look. "Mikey are you sure?", he asked

"I don't want to let anything bad happen to her, not after what happened, she is going to need the protection", he said, letting his arm go around my waist "I mean what happens if they would break in and we were not there? Besides she means a lot to me"

It was silent for a few moments before he sighed. "One week is all you need?", Leo asked

"At the least, I'll try to do earlier but its no guarantee", I said

"Alright we will let you keep watch during the nights until we can get you settled", he said

I felt relief wash over me knowing that at least we were going forward with the plan and was excited inside that I was going to be able to spend more time with Mikey during the nights so that would give us more time to spend together. So this moment I guess was considered to be bittersweet. I noticed Raph was leaning up against the tunnel of the entrance to the lair and I could see there was a cautious look with his arms crossed, almost as if he had been watching me the whole time. I gulped a bit uneasy before I turned away, okay so maybe this bittersweet moment was probably going to be more bitter than sweet knowing I am probably going to be having to deal with him a lot more than what I have been doing. But as long as I have Mikey I am hoping this won't turn into a cold war. Jeez nearly losing my life, having to leave my home from a threat and being able to move in with my boyfriend but dealing with his hot tempered brother, what more could possibly happen?


End file.
